In a settlement announced this week, Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy (D-R.I.) has agreed to pay an undisclosed sum to a former security guard at Los Angeles International Airport who alleged that the congressman assaulted her at a security checkpoint in 2000.
Kennedy, the son of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), will personally pay part of settlement to Della Patton of Los Angeles. His insurance company will pay the remainder.
“He felt it was his responsibility to own up and take responsibility for this incident,” said Jack McConnell, Kennedy’s lawyer. “He’s saying that this is an unfortunate incident, and that he’s sorry it happened.”
Patton filed suit in Torrance Superior Court, claiming that Kennedy “intentionally battered” her “with his hands and body” on March 26, 2000, in an attempt to force his way past her at a Terminal 7 security checkpoint at LAX.
The incident, which was captured on tape by two security cameras, started when Kennedy tried to put oversized luggage through an X-ray machine, said Patton’s attorney, George Mallory. Patton and another screener informed him that he would have to check his bag.
Kennedy pulled out his wallet and showed Patton his identification. When she refused to let him pass, Kennedy “shoved her and she struck the magnetometer,” Mallory said.
After the altercation, Patton suffered a “frozen shoulder” and had arthroscopic surgery for “loose bodies” in her left shoulder, Mallory said.
Kennedy, who eventually checked his bag on a flight to Boston, had previously apologized to Patton and offered $25,000, which she rejected.
Russia claimed this week to be advancing into Ukraine’s regions of Sumy, Kharkiv and Donetsk, as Ukraine installed new political leadership in its defence ministry and a new military leadership in its armed forces.
The changes followed the unprecedented firing of both defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov and commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskii within a week.
Most concerning was the news from Ukrainian soldiers in the eastern region of Donetsk that Russia was “effectively cutting off” Kostiantynivka, the southernmost of four “fortress cities” Russia had pledged to overthrow in a bid to capture the remaining free territory of the region by the end of the year.
Kostiantynivka was “the key to liberating the entire territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic”, Russian President Vladimir Putin recently said.
“Things are very bad in Kostiantynivka. It’s not a question of whether we’ll lose [it] or not – we’ve effectively already lost it,” a soldier told the Ukrainian news outlet Hromadske. “If there’s a large number of Russians there, you can’t really say we’re holding it. They’re just pushing our guys into a corner.”
A local Ukrainian commander told Hromadske that Russians were moving into the villages of Molocharka and Izhevka north of the city, and his units could find themselves surrounded in “another month or two” unless reinforcements arrived or containment tactics changed.
Shortly before he was dismissed on July 21, Syrskii had painted a more optimistic picture, saying there were an estimated 145 Russian infiltrators in the city who were suffering “significant losses” of about 25 people a day, as Ukrainian drone units hunted them down in their urban shelters.
The commander of a group called Kurt and Company shared that more optimistic view with the news outlet Suspilne.
“Heavy fighting and gunfire are going on all over the city,” said the commander, identified by the call sign Kurt. “But we still control most of the city and the enemy is mainly on the flanks. They are trying to bypass us, cut us off, but we are holding our defence there. We are just constantly under attack from the KABs – they are just taking out positions with aerial bombs. This is the only thing that still gives the Russians success and this is a big problem for us.”
KABs are massive aerial ordnance with payloads of between 500kg and 3,000kg, which Russia has been dropping on Ukrainian positions at a rate of more than 200 and sometimes more than 300 a day. Ukraine has repeatedly placed aerial defence equipment at the top of its list of requirements from allies.
As recently as three weeks ago, the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, estimated that Russian forces had a presence in just 37 percent of Kostiantynivka, mostly in the form of “infiltrations” rather than firm control. Its most recent assessment of Russian infiltration suggests that it has spread to most of the city, however.
Overall, Russian forces have been slowing down, though. The ISW estimated that they were capturing 16.6sq km a day in the first half of 2025, but just 1km a day in June this year. In July, the ISW has assessed that Russia has been losing territory at a rate of 1.6sq km a day.
Now, it appears that Russia has been mounting an effort to regain the offensive. The commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces (SBS), Robert Brovdi, said “the actual number of enemy personnel involved in offensive operations along the front line” during the month had increased by 12 percent compared with June and 18 percent compared with May, based on analysis from the SBS intelligence centre. Russian casualties increased by similar proportions, he said.
In the northern Kharkiv and Sumy regions, Russia claimed to have destroyed 10 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) control centres on July 27, killing 70 personnel.
Three days later, it said its troops had routed defenders in Nova Sich, Mogritsa and Malaya Slobodka in Sumy and Yurchenkovo in Kharkiv, by copying the Ukrainian tactic of using drones to disrupt ammunition deliveries.
“Russian servicemen found large amounts of abandoned weapons, ammunition and military equipment,” according to a Russian report.
A local Russian official claimed Moscow had captured 13 settlements in Kharkiv this month.
Al Jazeera could not independently verify the Russian claims, which have in the past been inflated or premature, and Ukraine denied Nova Sich had fallen.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this week he had received intelligence that Russia was preparing an “expanded mobilisation” to counter losses of 225,000 this year, versus recruitment of 221,000 people. Six out of 10 casualties were fatalities, he said.
Zelenskyy told Sky News Putin aimed to raise 300,000 to 500,000 troops in early October, after Russian parliamentary elections had taken place in September. “He will not be able to quickly prepare these people. This, again, means that he will send poorly trained people to the battlefield, which will inevitably lead to heavy losses,” Zelenskyy said.
More worrying, perhaps, were the 30,000 North Korean troops Russia was preparing barracks for in Voronezh, in southwestern Russia, according to Zelenskyy. Russia received 3,000 North Korean soldiers in 2024, and used them to reclaim territory Ukraine had counterinvaded in Kursk.
Fedorov announced a plan in June to attract foreign fighters by raising the salary for a front-line soldier to $7,000 a month. “I believe that 50 percent of the front line or among the attack aircraft could be foreigners,” he told Ukrainska Pravda this week.
Russia estimates that Ukraine currently employs about 4,000 foreign troops. Ukraine’s armed forces are estimated at 900,000 people.
Ukraine struck blows in its economic war against Russia, hitting refineries and oil depots.
Those included confirmed hits against the Subkhankulovo oil tank farm in Bashkortostan, 1,350km from Ukraine, six refineries, an oil loading terminal at Rostov-on-Don, and fuel and lubricant depots at Ishki in occupied Crimea and Udmurtia.
Ukraine has recently struck targets as far afield as 2,500km, and Zelenskyy said it had now acquired range of at least 3,000km.
Ukraine claims to have disabled 42 percent of Russian refining capacity this year. A Financial Times investigation using satellite photographs confirmed that it had disabled 45 percent of nominal capacity and 30 percent of actual capacity, causing damage lasting weeks or months.
Russia, which has been experiencing a fuel crisis as a result, extended a fuel export ban from the end of August to the end of January.
Ukraine also struck military production targets, including the Avitek plant in Kirov city, producing components for aviation and missiles, and an S-400 radar. On July 27, it downed a Forpost-R heavy drone used to carry KABs – only the sixth such prize of the entire war.
Brovdi’s forces continued to starve Crimea of electricity and fuel, striking 37 electricity substations and four oil tankers during the week, bringing the total number of electricity infrastructure nodes struck in July to 164, and the total number of tankers hit in the Black and Azov seas to 205.
Brovdi’s forces focused much of their fire on the warehouses of the Wildberries online retailer, suspected by Ukraine of providing equipment to mobilising troops.
During the past week they have struck warehouses in Voronezh, Leningrad, Simferopol, Udmurtia and Penza, bringing the total number of warehouses set ablaze to 12 and the estimated damage to $2.2bn.
Russia also claims to have hit military targets in massive drone and missile attacks on Ukraine, but many of the hits were civilian.
One person died when a supermarket in Chernihiv, northern Ukraine, was struck on July 26, and the entire Voronov family was wiped out in Radushne in central Ukraine when their house was blown to smithereens on July 30. A record 56,000 people spent the night sheltering in the Kyiv Metro that night.
A former security guard for Drakeo the Ruler testified under oath that he saw rapper YG produce a knife and slash it toward him during the 2021 backstage fight in which Drakeo was fatally stabbed, according to recently obtained deposition excerpts.
Alrick Cooper III, who was part of Drakeo’s security detail at the Once Upon a Time in L.A. festival, said YG was “front and center” during the Dec. 18, 2021, brawl and was one of three men he saw carrying what appeared to be short, improvised knives. He said YG, whose real name is Keenon Jackson, was wearing a ski mask, but he recognized the rapper’s hazel eyes as he tried to protect Drakeo, whose legal name was Darrell Caldwell Jr. Representatives for YG did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The excerpts come from Cooper’s March 19, 2025, deposition, which surfaced last month in a court filing by attorneys representing Drakeo’s family in a civil lawsuit against festival organizers and security contractors. It adds more context to the fight after law enforcement investigating the killing searched a Burbank property and detained YG in the process on Thursday.
The California Highway Patrol, with help from the Burbank Police Department’s SWAT team, briefly detained YG while officers searched the property. He was released after the search and was not arrested.
YG has repeatedly denied involvement in Drakeo’s death. On his June 2026 song “We Know the Truth,” he rejected allegations connecting him to the killing and said he learned after arriving to perform at the festival that someone had been stabbed.
A CHP spokesperson said the agency “cannot comment as this is an ongoing and open investigation” when asked if YG was a suspect or person of interest in the case. No one has been arrested in the ongoing murder case. NBC Los Angeles reported that the warrant was served as part of the continuing homicide investigation. CHP told NBC that YG was present when officers arrived and was released when the search was completed.
Drakeo’s son and other relatives, along with Cooper, sued Live Nation, C3 Presents, Bobby Dee Presents and several security contractors in February 2022, alleging the companies involved in staging and securing the festival failed to protect Drakeo from a foreseeable attack. YG is not a defendant in the lawsuit.
Cooper testified that Drakeo’s group was confronted by at least 20 to 25 people backstage. When asked whether he recognized anyone in the opposing group, Cooper named only YG.
“He was directly involved in the fight?” an attorney for Drakeo’s family asked.
“Yeah,” Cooper answered. “Front and center.”
Cooper said the attackers divided into groups and surrounded Drakeo’s party near the artist entrance. Some wore red clothing, ski masks or hoodies and Cooper said festival security personnel failed to intervene and instead closed two gates that could have provided an escape route.
“They actually closed the gates and trapped us in to where we couldn’t leave,” Cooper testified. According to his account, one exit was blocked by security personnel while attackers swarmed the other side of the backstage area.
Cooper said he initially struck one of the approaching men and momentarily lost his footing. He then found himself fighting YG and a man he described as YG’s bodyguard, with Drakeo positioned a foot or two behind him and to his right.
“And then YG produced a knife from his left hand,” Cooper testified, describing the weapon as appearing to emerge from Jackson’s sleeve. “And when I saw that I just backed up.”
As the confrontation continued, Cooper said, the attackers moved toward Drakeo and “swarmed over” him. Police arrived almost simultaneously, according to Cooper, and began breaking up the fight.
Cooper described the weapon he attributed to YG as a silver blade approximately three or four inches long. He said he did not see a handle and compared its appearance to an improvised prison shank.
“He was slashing at me with it, like getting me to back up,” Cooper testified. He said he was not stabbed.
Cooper said he saw two other men standing near YG with similar weapons. He described one man as being immediately beside YG and another as positioned behind and between them. Cooper said he concluded the men were armed after observing movements that differed from ordinary punching.
“Once I saw the stabbing, jabbing motion,” Cooper testified, he tried to move away from those individuals.
Cooper described one of the other men as a bald Black man, approximately 5 feet 9 inches or 5 feet 10 inches tall, with light-brown or hazel eyes and a blue patterned crew-neck shirt. He described the third as a similarly sized Black man with dreadlocks but said he could not remember the man’s clothing. Cooper estimated YG was approximately 6 feet 1 inch or 6 feet 2 inches tall.
Cooper acknowledged that the person he identified as YG was wearing a black balaclava that exposed only the area around his eyes. He said the man also wore a black bomber-style jacket, black pants with red stripes and shiny black shoes.
Asked how he could make the identification with much of the man’s face covered, Cooper said he had met YG “a lot” and recognized his eyes, body type, height, walk and demeanor.
Cooper also testified that members of the attacking group taunted Drakeo during the confrontation.
He recalled hearing statements including “Is this Drakeo?,” “Is that who I think it is?,” “What you want to do?” and “Now we finally got him.” Cooper also reported hearing Blood gang expressions, including “soo whoop” and “Sup, Blood,” and seeing individuals beating their chests.
Earlier in the deposition, Cooper said he had previously intervened when the two rappers encountered each other outside a recording studio.
According to Cooper, YG approached Drakeo and asked, “What’s up [with] all that internet stuff?” Cooper said he had to defuse that encounter.
Cooper also cited Drakeo’s 2021 song “IngleWeird,” interviews and music released by artists associated with the two camps as evidence of an escalating dispute. He recalled a summer 2021 interview featuring YG and two other artists in which, according to Cooper, someone said, “We don’t do that internet stuff, the homies going to get you.”
Cooper testified that the history led him to warn Drakeo before the festival that more security was needed. He believed there was a substantial chance the two artists or their entourages would encounter each other as Drakeo left the stage or festival grounds.
All parties will be back in court for the first of two hearings beginning Aug. 13 covering motions to dismiss the case brought by Bobby Dee Presents and Live Nation.
The TWZ Newsletter
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
From the ongoing conflict with Iran, to the Ukraine war and hotspots around the world, aerial drones have proven to be extremely dangerous and effective weapons and a mad rush is on to counter them. It is a technology race that makes headlines on a near daily basis. However, a similar but far quieter and less visible threat is emerging below the waves and now the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) is looking to do more about it.
Faced with a growing threat from uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs), the USCG is seeking technology not just to detect these weapons, but to defeat them. Ports and other maritime facilities are vulnerable to this kind of attack vector, and our adversaries surely know it. The effort is being led by the Coast Guard Futures Development and Integration (FD&I) Directorate, which oversees research, modeling and simulation, technology forecasting, and field experimentation. It is part of the service’s role to protect U.S. maritime assets and comes as adversary militaries and non-state actors alike, are developing a wide array of UUVs for surveillance, strike and sabotage.
“UUVs are increasingly used in both public and military maritime operations due to their versatility, stealth, and ability to operate in challenging environments,” the Coast Guard noted in its request for solutions (RFS) posted Friday on the government’s online contracting portal. “However, the proliferation of UUV technology has introduced new threats to maritime security. Malicious actors can employ UUVs for a range of activities, including intelligence gathering, surveillance, smuggling, sabotage of critical infrastructure, and kinetic strikes. The covert nature and advanced navigation capabilities of modern UUVs make them difficult to detect, track, and mitigate using traditional maritime interdiction tactics.”
The most vivid example of this threat took place in December, when Ukraine claimed it used a UUV to strike an Improved Kilo class diesel-electric submarine, in the Black Sea naval stronghold of Novorossiysk. Ukraine’s state security service (SBU) told us at the time they used its Sub Sea Baby UUV to navigate through the harbor and hit the submarine.
It remains unclear how much damage the submarine sustained. However, the incident showed Ukraine was able to slip a UUV into a heavily defended harbor, in daylight, and detonate its warhead next to a prized Russian submarine worth, hundreds of millions of dollars.
The following satellite image showed a view of the submarine after the UUV hit.
Here is a video of the attack:
In an earlier example of these vehicles being used as a weapon, the U.S. Navy found itself having to fire on a threatening Houthi UUV in February 2024, according to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM).
“Between the hours of 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. (Sanaa time), Feb. 17, CENTCOM successfully conducted five self-defense strikes against three mobile anti-ship cruise missiles, one unmanned underwater vessel (UUV), and one unmanned surface vessel (USV) in Iranian-backed Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen,” the command stated on X at the time. “This is the first observed Houthi employment of a UUV since attacks began on Oct. 23, [2023].”
Feb. 17 Summary of Red Sea activities
TAMPA, Fla. – Between the hours of 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. (Sanaa time), Feb. 17, CENTCOM successfully conducted five self-defense strikes against three mobile anti-ship cruise missiles, one unmanned underwater vessel (UUV), and one unmanned… https://t.co/TwR9RUmMMu
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) February 18, 2024
Hamas used UUVs even before that in an attempt to attack Israeli naval assets in 2021, according to the Times of Israel.
“While the small autonomous underwater drone was still close to the shore, an Israeli Navy vessel destroyed the device, and an IDF aircraft attacked the operatives that launched it in order to thwart the threat,” the military said, according to the outlet.
“Hamas has for years been believed to be developing autonomous submarines,” Times of Israel added. “The Israeli Navy believes that the models in the terror group’s arsenals are guided by GPS and capable of carrying some 30 kilograms (66 pounds) of explosives. Such weapons could be directed against targets both out at sea and along Israel’s coastline.”
The threat from these systems has come a long way. America’s near-peer adversaries are far more advanced in this regard and weapons that can travel great distances undersea, operating on their own, offer a distinct asymmetric advantage. As with Pearl Harbor, it is far more convenient to strike ships in port than to hunt them at sea. China, notably, has invested heavily in uncrewed underwater vehicles for years.
“There are effective technologies with the capability to detect and track UUVs, but few tested and fielded defeat/mitigation systems,” the Coast Guard said in the RFS.
There are really two areas where these technologies land, in general. Providing early warning and tracking of UUVs over larger areas and coastal and harbor defense, the inner layer where UUVs are arguably most dangerous.
For the U.S., persistent and broad area undersea surveillance coverage has historically been provided by large networks of static hydrophones that are extremely costly to establish, operate, and maintain. They were also designed to detect large submarines, not far smaller UUVs. The U.S. Navy’s Cold War Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) network is perhaps the best-known example of such a system. Portions of SOSUS do remain in service, but are now used more for scientific research than watching for foreign submarines. SOSUS has been largely supplanted operationally by a mix of fixed sensor arrays, surface ships towing sonar, and processing stations ashore known collectively as the Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS).
Last year, TWZ highlighted one of many alternatives being developed by industry, Anduril’s readily deployable undersea surveillance system called Seabed Sentry. It uses networks of small and relatively low-cost modular sensor nodes to detect and track undersea threats. You can read more about that system and how it operates in our story here.
Anduril, working with Ultra Maritime’s Sea Spear deployable sonar system, demonstrated the latest iteration of this system during the Navy’s recent Lanternfish exercise, which “brought together the U.S. Navy, United Kingdom Ministry of Defense explosive ordnance disposal units, Royal Australian Navy UUV Operators and defense industry professionals to build seamless interoperability,” according to the U.S. Navy.
The inner layer of defense benefits from ongoing development and evolution, from sensors for detecting divers and objects to marine mammals that can do the same. Still, UUVs offer unique new challenge to contend with.
Last month, Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Panama City and Unmanned Undersea Vehicle Group (UUVGRU) One “executed a multi-national harbor protection demonstration to show how the advancement of technology plays a crucial role in protecting the Navy’s assets during exercise Baltic Operations (BALTOPS) 2026,” NSWC said.
The demonstration “showcased three emerging technologies including an expeditionary air curtain, an artificial kelp UUV net, and sea water neutralization charges which are designed to counter UUV threats,” the release added.
“The expeditionary air curtain is a rapidly deployable underwater system that is used to protect mission-critical assets below the waterline. The air curtain defends against UUV threats and can be used at Naval bases and military installations as well as ports and harbors by aerating the water to affect the UUV’s depth sensors, acoustic sensors, buoyancy and propulsion.”
“We are testing the air curtain to see how it disrupts and hinders UUV sensors. It is a quick, expeditionary solution because it can be deployed easily,” said Javi Handal, a Senior Electrical Engineer with NSWC Panama City.
He did not provide further details about these systems.
Regardless, the Coast Guard is looking to industry for other options.
“Defeat technologies are an essential piece in the kill chain, as detection is only the first step to stopping the threat,” its RFS explains. “The development and deployment of effective C-UUV defeat solutions will enhance maritime domain dominance (MDD), port security, and critical infrastructure protection, enabling reliable response actions to neutralize UUV-based threats.”
The Coast Guard said it is specifically interested in “solutions that have been tested and demonstrated to be effective in operational settings, with a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 5 or higher.”
The Pentagon describes TRL 5 as systems where the “basic technological components are integrated with reasonably realistic supporting elements so it can be tested in a simulated environment. Examples include ‘high fidelity’ laboratory integration of components.”
The requested technologies should be capable of supporting Ports, Waterways & Coastal Security operations, “addressing the unique challenges posed by UUVs in these environments,” the Coast Guard added.
“We are looking for systems that can provide reliable performance in real-world conditions, including but not limited to sensor platforms, kinetic solutions, and integrated response solutions,” the RFS notes. “Respondents are encouraged to submit information on products or systems that are currently available for procurement, have undergone field testing, and are suitable for deployment in port, harbor, and waterway security scenarios. Defeat solutions should be scalable and adaptable for compatibility with existing detection systems and/or various configurations for different ports.”
The Coast Guard is limiting its search to “only systems with an effector or with direct mitigating capabilities, or with detection, tracking, identifying, and mitigating capabilities. Submissions that do not include defeat capabilities will not be considered at this time.”
Interested parties have two weeks to submit their proposals. We reached out to the Coast Guard to find out more details about timelines and budgets and will update this story with any pertinent information provided.
As Ukraine proved last year, the threat from UUVs is real and growing, giving adversaries hard-to-detect and difficult-to-defeat autonomous weapons that can be launched from great distances and potentially operated in concert. The Coast Guard request is the latest example of the U.S. government’s increasing effort to get after this emerging threat.
Contact the author: howard@twz.com
Tomas Ragina
The U.S. military launched airstrikes targeting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Sunday in retaliation for an attack in Jordan that killed two American service members and wounded four others, further escalating the conflict between Washington and Tehran.
U.S. Central Command
July 15 (UPI) — A search for three people missing in San Francisco Bay after their cabin cruiser sank a day earlier will end when the sun sets on Wednesday, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
Eleven boats and four aircraft have been searching hundreds of miles of water for those reported missing after a cabin cruiser capsized off the coast of Alcatraz on Tuesday afternoon.
Officials initially said 19 people were aboard the 49-foot, three-level Volare cabin cruiser and that 17 people had been rescued from the water, leaving two people unaccounted for. One person rescued was later pronounced dead. A dog on board also died. But officials have since said 20 people were on the craft and that three were missing.
Capt. Jarod Toczko, sector commander of Coast Guard Sector San Francisco, announced the deadline for the search during a 2 p.m. press conference, explaining that none of the missing had been found, despite a search of more than 950 square nautical miles and more than 1,700 miles of track line.
“We have completely saturated the search area,” he said.
“As I look at the extensive search effort we have put forth to this point, I look at the probability of success of locating a survivor within the search area given everything we’ve put forth and all the environmental conditions, my intention is to suspend active search operations at sunset this evening.”
He said the families have been notified and crews will continue to search until the sun sets.
Dean Crispen, chief of the San Francisco Fire Department, said that three survivors who were transported to the hospital have been released and were “doing okay.”
The person who died was identified Wednesday by the San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner as 79-year-old Clifford Joseph Boisa of Sutter County.
Authorities were notified at 3:37 p.m. PDT about a boat in distress in the San Francisco Bay. Witnesses had incorrectly identified steam emanating from the boat as smoke, leading initial reports to indicate a fire was on board. Civilians boaters were first to arrive on the scene and are being hailed for saving lives.
The cause of the capsizing is under investigation, but Toczko told reporters that survivors and those who responded to the scene said that the boat was hit by a wave that caused it to list heavily, lose its stability and roll over.
Some occupants were thrown into the water, Toczko said, adding that there is a “high possibility” that others had been trapped inside the vessel.
Crispen had said during a Tuesday press conference that all aboard the vessel were adults, mostly family members and close friends who were participating in “some kind of memorial service.”
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said that while he laments the tragedy, he is “incredibly proud of the all hands-on-deck effort.”
“From Marin to Oakland to San Francisco to the good Samaritans, it was truly all hands-on-deck effort to save 16 people,” he said. “And my heart goes out to the families of the victims.”
WASHINGTON — Dozens of people held at a sprawling Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Texas say they were either beaten by guards or witnessed others being beaten, according to a new report issued by legal and human rights advocates.
The 84-page report issued jointly Wednesday by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union also says men and women held at Camp East Montana, located at the U.S. Army’s Fort Bliss in El Paso, recounted being denied necessary medical care, forced to live in filthy conditions and fed inedible meals. Detainees also said they were prevented from contacting their lawyers or family members.
Of the 71 detainees contacted over a five month period, 64 — about 90% of those interviewed — said they had either personally been assaulted by the staff or had seen others physically abused, according to the report.
“ICE’s Camp East Montana is a human rights disaster,” said Angélica César, a fellow at Human Rights Watch and the ACLU who was a lead researcher for the report. “The U.S. government should shut it down, conduct independent investigations into all abuses and deaths in custody, and put an end to mass deportations and mandatory immigration detention.”
The Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The new accounts of violence and substandard living conditions inside Camp East Montana are consistent with earlier reports by The Associated Press and others. At least three detainees held at the facility since it opened in August have died, including a 55-year-old Cuban migrant who was handcuffed and stopped breathing earlier this year after being held down by guards.
A local medical examiner later ruled that death a homicide and a federal report issued last month said evidence in the case was “missing or destroyed.” That report by the Government Accountability Office found mismanagement by the Department of Homeland Security had created unsafe conditions that contributed to detainee deaths and suffering even as millions of wasted tax dollars enriched contractors.
In March, ICE replaced Acquisition Logistics, LLC, the prime contractor that had been awarded a deal last year worth up to $1.3 billion to build and manage the camp. The Virginia company had no prior experience running an ICE detention facility, had never won a federal contract worth more than $16 million and lacked a functioning website.
The change came as an internal ICE review documented 49 deficiencies, which it defines as violations of detention standards or policies, in areas including the use of force and restraints, security and medical care.
Despite the change in contractors, interviews conducted by Human Rights Watch and the ACLU as recently as last month found serious problems at the camp have persisted.
Detainees recounted degrading and inhumane living conditions that included bathrooms covered in feces, flooded housing units and no access to soap or other basic hygiene supplies, according to the report. They also reported being held indoors for weeks without meaningful access to recreation, sunlight or fresh air.
People also described receiving spoiled food and inconsistent meal schedules, with delays of up to 12 hours between meals.
The report recounts detainees saying that guards beat detainees in response to hunger strikes, requests for medical attention and complaints regarding detention conditions. Several people said that guards imposed collective punishment, striking or assaulting multiple people after accusing one detainee of violating rules, according to the report.
Researchers found that staff pressured and coerced those held there into abandoning immigration claims and accepting removal to third countries if they could not be sent back to their own country. The detainees said they were threatened with violence, criminal prosecution, and indefinite detention if they refused deportation.
In some cases, the report concluded, the circumstances of ICE detention could amount to enforced disappearances, a potential violation of international human rights law.
Human Rights Watch and the ACLU called on the Trump administration to close Camp East Montana and to allow independent investigations into deaths in custody, excessive force, medical neglect and enforced disappearances.
“The abuses documented at Fort Bliss are the predictable outcome of the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda, its brutal expansion of immigration detention, and the erosion of federal oversight mechanisms,” said César, the lead researcher. “People at Camp East Montana are human beings who deserve to be treated with dignity and protected from harm.”
Biesecker writes for the Associated Press.
Alexander, who signed a two-way deal with the Jazz last week. was injured in game against Chicago Bulls.
Published On 14 Jul 202614 Jul 2026
Utah Jazz guard Trey Alexander was taken from the court on a stretcher after appearing to injure his side on a drive to the basket in an NBA Summer League game against the Chicago Bulls.
Alexander, who signed a two-way deal with Utah last week, made contact with the Bulls’ Caleb Wilson during Monday night’s match while driving towards the basket. After tossing the ball towards the hoop, he went behind the basket, clutching his side or abdomen. He then dropped to the ground, appearing to be in great pain.
list of 4 itemsend of list
The 23-year-old was taken from the Thomas & Mack Center court on a stretcher. The incident occurred with just more than two minutes left in the fourth quarter.
There was no immediate word from the Jazz on Alexander’s injury.
Alexander played three seasons at Creighton University and skipped his final year of eligibility to turn pro. The rookie of the year in the G League, the NBA’s minor league, for the 2024-2025 season played 24 games for the Denver Nuggets that same season and nine games for the New Orleans Pelicans last season.
Under his current contract, Alexander is to play for the Jazz and its G League affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps released a video of what they say were missiles launched by their naval forces in retaliation of US strikes. US-Iran tensions have been escalating in the Strait of Hormuz leading to its closure and exchange of strikes between US and Iran.
Published On 12 Jul 202612 Jul 2026
Share
SAN FRANCISCO — He needed one shot to warm up. Then almost nothing could stop Cameron Carr.
In his unofficial NBA debut, the first-round draft pick flashed the type of three-point shooting that could turn him into a valuable player for the Lakers, scoring 19 points on seven-of-15 shooting in the Lakers’ 104-72 summer league loss to the Golden State Warriors.
Carr missed his first shot, a nearly straight-away three-pointer. But he bounced back quickly by hitting a catch-and-shoot three from the wing on an offensive rebound. He knocked down the next one. He held his thumb and forefinger in a circle over his eye in celebration.
The Lakers spent the first days of free agency addressing their shooting deficiencies. While Luke Kennard signed a two-year contract with Phoenix, the Lakers reloaded with guards Quentin Grimes and Collin Sexton and versatile power forward Sandro Mamukelashvili. The three free-agent additions came in a flurry Wednesday after the Lakers pulled off an aggressive sign-and-trade for center Walker Kessler.
The moves were meant to reshape the roster to maximize superstar Luka Doncic, who will take the reins with the departure of LeBron James.
After leading the offense at Baylor, Carr knows his assignment supporting Doncic with the Lakers will be simpler: cut, run and dunk, he said at his introductory news conference.
And, for the guard who shot 37.4% from three at Baylor last year, his job is to knock down shots.
“If you can shoot the ball,” Carr said with a slight smile in New York the day before the draft, “you’re wanted by a lot of people.”
The Lakers wanted the 6-foot-5 guard so badly that they executed a draft-day trade with the New York Knicks to grab the 24th overall pick. Carr was projected to be a mid first-round pick, but slipped down the board in what many projected to be the deepest draft in a generation.
Lakers rookie Cameron Carr shoots a three-pointer over Golden State’s Lachlan Olbrich during the first half of the California Classic on Friday.
(Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)
Any of the top three picks of AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, and Carlos Boozer could have been No. 1 picks in other seasons, analysts predicted. Eleven guards were taken before Carr, who was named third-team All-Big-12 last year after averaging 18.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists with 45 total blocks at Baylor last year.
But ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla estimated that Carr could be the best athlete out of the entire draft.
His 7-foot wingspan was the best among guards at the NBA combine and his 38-inch standing vertical and 10.46-second lane agility test ranked first for his position.
Carr said his top objective is to put on weight. Weighing 184 pounds at the NBA combine, Carr would have been the third-lightest, 6-5 player in the league last year, ahead of only Sacramento’s Nique Clifford (6-5, 175 pounds) and Dallas’ AJ Johnson (6-5, 160 pounds). He may be joining the Lakers at the exact right moment as the team — with the investment and guidance from big brother organization the Dodgers — will expand weight room, treatment and sports science resources in its facility. The 21-year-old guard said he plans to make the weight room his new home.
Building up his strength to handle the NBA will be critical for Carr as he hopes to show “that I’m the best defender here,” he told reporters. Adding another defender became even more important after guard Marcus Smart signed a contract with Western Conference rival Houston.
The Lakers, after trading Deandre Ayton on Friday for guard Jaden Hardy and two second-round draft picks, could still look for a wing defender and back up center to round out their roster that currently stands at 13.
The Lakers re-signed guard Chris Mañon to a two-way contract, the Lakers announced. The second-year guard appeared in nine games for the Lakers last year and also played in 33 G League games for the South Bay Lakers, averaging 10.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists. With a team-high 1.9 steals per game, Mañon was named to the G League all-defensive team and finished second in defensive player of the year voting.
On the eve of his unofficial NBA debut, first-round draft pick Cameron Carr signed his Lakers rookie contract, the team announced Thursday.
The Lakers acquired Carr, a 6-foot-5 guard, in a swap of picks with the New York Knicks. Carr will play for the Lakers in summer league games beginning Friday in San Francisco.
Terms were not announced, but the standard rookie contract for the 24th pick this season is about $16.9 million over four seasons with team options in the third and fourth seasons, according to Spotrac.
Carr does not play the position most thought the Lakers would target in the draft. Desperate for a big man, the Lakers instead traded to get the shooting guard out of Baylor.
But Carr fits the bill with his athleticism and length. He recorded a 7-foot wingspan and 8-8 standing reach at the NBA combine, where he also impressed scouts during the five-on-five scrimmage with 30 points and seven rebounds on six-for-12 shooting from three-point range. At Baylor, he averaged 18.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists last season.
Carr’s father, Chris, played six seasons in the NBA, highlighted by a runner-up finish in the 1997 NBA dunk contest.
The winner was Kobe Bryant.
With a chance to make his own NBA legacy, the 21-year-old Carr has found inspiration from his father.
“He was a good outlet for me because he’s been where I want to go, and he’s been down the road I want to go,” Carr told reporters at his introductory news conference. “He’s been a heck of a person to stand next to. Especially in tough times where sometimes I don’t know where I want to go. Man, I can lean on him and ask him. He’s been a lot of help for me.”
NEW YORK — With their highest draft pick since 2009, the Clippers selected Illinois guard Keaton Wagler fifth overall at the NBA draft on Tuesday at Barclays Center.
The 6-foot-6 guard was selected Big Ten freshman of the year after averaging 17.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game. When NBA Commissioner Adam Silver read Wagler’s name aloud, he hugged everyone at his table, walked between two smoke towers and grabbed a Clippers hat with a bedazzled team logo before shaking Silver’s hand.
Wagler smiled in relief as he walked across the room, a welcome change after a nervy first 40 minutes of the draft. Wagler anxiously bounced his legs after Silver announced to the crowd that the Washington Wizards had five minutes to make the first selection. Cameras were poised at every side of AJ Dybantsa’s table, where the Brigham Young forward sat with his elbows resting on his knees and head bowed.
The No. 1 pick crossed himself when Silver read his name aloud.
The leading scorer in college basketball last year led an NBA draft class that is regarded as one of the deepest in a generation. Dybantsa was in a heated race against Darryn Peterson and Cameron Boozer to be the top pick as all three are projected to make immediate impacts at the professional level.
Peterson of Kansas went second to the Utah Jazz while the Memphis Grizzlies picked Boozer third. Chicago selected North Carolina forward Caleb Wilson fourth, completing an elite quartet of players at the top of the draft.
After the top four picks, the draft was considered wide open with a logjam of talented guards. The Clippers, who added former All-Star Darius Garland last year in a midseason trade, had options for a trade at the coveted No. 5 spot.
Wagler can team immediately with Garland to make a dynamic, young backcourt for a franchise hoping to win its first playoff series since 2021. The Clippers have never picked fifth overall and Wagler is the team’s highest selection since taking Blake Griffin first overall in 2009.
The Clippers also have the sixth (36th overall) and 22nd (52nd overall) picks of the second round, which begins Wednesday at 5 p.m. PDT.
WASHINGTON — Prison inmates whose religious rights are clearly violated by guards and wardens may not sue them for damages, a divided Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
In a 6-3 decision, the justices said federal law protecting religious liberty allows for suits against state prison systems, but not employees of the prison.
The decision came in the case of a devout Rastafarian in Louisiana. Damon Landor had grown dreadlocks for nearly two decades. He had three weeks left in a five-month prison term when he was transferred to another prison in Louisiana.
He had with him a copy of a federal appeals court opinion that said Rastafarian inmates had a protected religious right to wear dreadlocks.
Congress in 2000 adopted the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act to protect religious liberty.
But the guards threw the appeals court decision in the trash, and the warden ordered the guards to handcuff Landor to a chair and shave his head.
Shortly after he was released, Landor sued the warden and the guards for violating the 2000 law, known as RLUIPA, which promised “appropriate relief” to those whose rights were violated.
But a federal judge, the 5th Circuit Court and now the Supreme Court have tossed out Landor’s suit.
Justice Neil M. Gorsuch wrote for the six conservatives.
He explained that when the federal government gives states money for prisons, education, healthcare and other matters, it can require them to follow the law but it does not authorize private lawsuits against their employees
“To know that is enough to know the Court of Appeals was correct. Mr. Landor does not have a federal RLUIPA cause of action against the officers,” Gorsuch wrote. “Congress lacks regulatory authority to impose liability on them directly.”
The three liberals dissented.
“Today’s decision magically transforms a federal statute into an invitation to be accepted or declined, deemed binding only if each particular defendant has explicitly agreed to be penalized,” wrote Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. “Prisoners like Landor who suffer violations of their religious freedom in state prisons — no matter how blatant — will often be left remediless.”
Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan agreed.
Civil liberties advocates denounced the decision.
“Our justice system is built on the promise of accountability when rights are violated,” said Rachel Rossi, president of the Alliance for Justice. “If there is no remedy for such a transgression, then there is no justice. This ruling will further erode critical civil rights protections of the far too many incarcerated people in this country.”
Rachel Laser, chief executive of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said today’s decision “endangers the religious freedom of incarcerated people, like Damon Landor, who are particularly vulnerable to abuse and having unnecessary burdens placed on their religious exercise. Once again, we see a court that will bend over backward for the religious freedom of Christians, but allows the government to trample the religious freedom of non-Christians.”
A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter, like the one seen here, crashed in Alaska on Monday with four people on board. File Photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Connie Terrell/U.S. Coast Guard/UPI
June 23 (UPI) — All four Coast Guard members aboard a helicopter that crashed in Alaska sustained only minor injuries, the maritime law enforcement agency said.
The Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crashed Monday morning during a training flight near Harbor Mountain, Sitka, Alaska, the Coast Guard said in a statement.
The first reports of the crash were received at the Arctic District command center shortly after 10 a.m. local time, officials said.
Deployed responders reached the aircraft at about 11 a.m. local time, the Coast Guard said, and were able to transport the helicopter’s four occupants to Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center.
U.S. Coast Guard Arctic later Monday said that the four Coast Guard members involved in the crash sustained only minor injuries.
“We are incredibly relieved our crew members survived with only minor injuries,” Rear Adm. Bob Little, commander of the Coast Guard’s Arctic District, said in a statement.
“We are grateful for the swift response by the Sitka Fire and Rescue, who assisted us during this critical time.”
In response to the crash, Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak will be repositioning a helicopter and crews to Coast Guard Air Station Sitka to maintain operational readiness in the Southeastern Alaska region, officials said.
The crash is under investigation.
Even during an early start to their offseason, the Clippers got one major win in May.
The Clippers were the quiet winners of the NBA draft lottery, where, with coin-flip odds, they swiped the Indiana Pacers’ first-round pick in a loaded draft class. The No. 5 pick can add an immediate rotation player for the Clippers while also being a potential fulcrum for what experts consider one of the deepest draft classes ever.
The top four prospects are locked. The only question is in what order Brigham Young forward AJ Dybantsa, Kansas guard Darryn Peterson, Duke forward Cameron Boozer and North Carolina forward Caleb Wilson will hear their names called Tuesday night at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. Washington, which picks first, Utah, Memphis and Chicago have the first shots at those potential franchise-defining players.
The first round then could turn with the Clippers’ pick.
“It puts the Clippers in an interesting spot at five,” ESPN draft analyst Jeremy Woo said on a conference call with reporters. “They’ve got options, including trades.”
After the top tier of primarily wing prospects, four guards are likely to go in the next wave of picks. Louisville’s Mikel Brown Jr. broke former No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg’s Atlantic Coast Conference freshman record with 45 points in a game, but did not play in the NCAA tournament because of a back injury after averaging 18.2 points and 4.7 assists for the Cardinals.
Kingston Flemings (16.1 points, 5.2 assists, 1.8 turnovers) became the first freshman at Houston to earn All-America honors, named a consensus second-teamer last year while leading the Cougars to the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16. But Houston’s bid for consecutive Final Fours ended against Illinois and guard Keaton Wagler.
The 6-foot-6, 180-pound guard averaged 17.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.8 turnovers as a freshman. Coming out of high school, Wagler was the lowest-ranked prospect out of the four guards jockeying for draft position between picks five and eight, but he could be the first of the group off the board.
“He has the size, and he has this brain where you see how quickly he’s improved,” Woo said. “And that, to me, is the biggest thing. But I just think people will continue to learn more about him. He’s not someone NBA teams knew about really coming into the year. … It just happened faster than we all expected.”
Arkansas’ Darius Acuff Jr. has the attention of scouts after averaging 23.5 points while shooting 44% from three-point range, but the 6-foot-3, 190-pound guard could create a defensively challenged pairing next to Clippers point guard Darius Garland.
Garland was acquired in a midseason move that signaled a significant pivot in the team’s plans. The Clippers sent 36-year-old James Harden, who was having his highest-scoring season in six years, to Cleveland in exchange for the 26-year-old Garland and a 2028 second-round selection.
Two days later, the Clippers got even younger by sending starting center Ivica Zubac and third-year guard Kobe Brown to Indiana for 23-year-old guard Bennedict Mathurin, backup center Isaiah Jackson, two first-round picks and one second-round pick. One of the first-round picks turned into this year’s selection after the Pacers, who finished with the second-worst record, slipped out of the top four in the draft lottery.
Zubac, 29, was the Clippers’ longest-tenured player and top rebounder. He and Harden were two of their top three scorers.
Houston guard Kingston Flemings goes for a layup during an NCAA tournament game in March.
(Ashley Landis / Associated Press)
“When we traded James and when we traded Zu, those were incredibly hard and difficult situations,” Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank told reporters after the season.
“But it requires that you must be honest about yourself and honest about where you’re at as a team. Usually teams, when you study team building, if they’re in this contender status, they usually take this huge drop to rebuilding. We’re not going to do that.”
The Clippers have had 15 consecutive winning seasons, the longest active streak. But they have not won a playoff series since their Western Conference finals run in 2021. Last season ended with a play-in game collapse, the Clippers squandering a 13-point, fourth-quarter lead to the Golden State Warriors at home.
The midseason trades helped the Clippers start replenishing their draft capital after the blockbuster move that brought Paul George and Kawhi Leonard to L.A. in 2019 hamstrung their assets. Because of the Cavaliers trade, the Clippers also have the 52nd overall pick in Wednesday’s second round, along with the 36th pick. The moves also helped reset the roster from the oldest in league history to one with six rotation players who are an average of 25.7 years old.
Leonard, who turns 35 the week after the draft, is entering the final year of his contract. The superstar forward averaged a career-best 27.9 points while playing 65 games, just the second time with the Clippers that he appeared in 60 or more in a season.
But the franchise still is waiting for the results of a league investigation into alleged salary cap circumvention involving Leonard and former team sponsor Aspiration. The punishment levied could include multimillion-dollar fines, a loss of future draft picks or voiding Leonard’s contract with the team.
WASHINGTON — Mismanagement at a massive Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Texas created unsafe conditions that contributed to detainee deaths and suffering even as millions of wasted tax dollars enriched contractors, according to a federal report released Tuesday.
The Government Accountability Office report documents serious problems at Camp East Montana, a sprawling tent facility at Ft. Bliss in El Paso where three detainees have died in a little more than six months. Evidence in one of those deaths, of a 55-year-old Cuban migrant who died in January after being held down by guards, was “missing or destroyed,” the report found.
ICE rushed to open the camp in August before construction was complete and failed to conduct required oversight to ensure detainees were held in sanitary conditions and receiving adequate medical care, according to the report.
The Department of Homeland Security noted that ICE has replaced the contractor running the facility. “This new contractor will allow Camp East Montana to continue abiding by the highest detention standards with the ability to provide more medical care on-site,” said Homeland Security spokesperson Lauren Bis.
The GAO’s findings echo past reporting by the Associated Press and other news outlets about dangerous conditions at Camp East Montana, which quickly became the nation’s largest immigration detention facility.
But the government report also details previously undisclosed incidents, including a detainee escape in October due to what ICE called the contractor’s oversight failure. In January, a security guard lost a loaded firearm inside the facility that was never recovered.
The contractor failed to administer skin tests to screen detainees for tuberculosis, relying on a questionnaire instead, the report said. The inadequate screening allowed a detainee with tuberculosis to be housed with the general population, which later suffered an outbreak.
GAO is an independent, nonpartisan agency in Congress that investigates how federal funds are spent and evaluates whether programs and policies are operating effectively. The office opened its review into Camp East Montana at the request of Democrats in the House and Senate.
Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois called the report’s findings “damning.”
“We now know even more details of how dangerous and irresponsible the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign truly is,” said Durbin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, adding that “those detained are experiencing conditions that shock the conscience.”
Facing pressure to increase its detention capacity, the Trump administration routed the contract to build Camp East Montana through the Army to speed construction after ICE twice failed to successfully award one. That resulted in the selection of a small, little-known contractor, Acquisition Logistics, for the $1.3-billion deal despite it having no prior experience operating detention facilities and facing what ICE called a “significant learning curve.”
The Army — and later ICE after the camp was transferred to the agency — wasted millions of dollars paying for services it did not need because the contract did not account for fluctuations in the detainee population, the report said.
The Army blew as much as $11.5 million paying for guards, medical services, transportation and meals in the weeks before the camp held detainees. Millions more were wasted because the government was contracted to pay the cost of meals for the camp’s maximum population of 5,000, even when the number of detainees there dropped to around 1,600, the report said.
The facility did not meet ICE detention standards or the contract’s requirements in several ways when it opened, in part because it had not been inspected as required by ICE policy, the report said. The camp lacked security cameras on the perimeter and had other surveillance blind spots that raised the risk of sexual assaults or escapes.
The camp could not accommodate detainees using wheelchairs and had no showers compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act, resulting in the disabled being held in medical care rooms.
The recreation area wasn’t available for several days, and after one yard was opened, it wasn’t enough space to provide required time for detainees. The law library, space to meet with attorneys and a visitation area did not open for weeks, resulting in detainees being deprived of legal resources and contact with family and friends, the report found.
The problems persisted as ICE began transporting more detainees there from across the country, the GAO found. While built to house up to 5,000 immigrants for short-term stays, its population has averaged about half of that from October until April, according to ICE’s most recent data.
Detainees held at the facility didn’t receive comprehensive health assessments, which meant that those with chronic conditions received substandard care, the report said.
The contractor cleaned the dormitories weekly rather than daily as required, resulting in unsanitary conditions. Some guards offered detainees cookies if they would clean their own rooms. Acquisition Logistics didn’t reply to messages seeking comment.
The GAO report says investigations into the January death of Geraldo Lunas Campos were undermined after “evidence associated with the incident was missing or destroyed.” It did not elaborate. Campos died after he was restrained by guards and an outside autopsy report ruled the death a homicide due to asphyxia. The contractor at the facility did not provide use-of-force and death reports to ICE as required, according to the new report.
An investigation by ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility into the death is on hold pending a criminal investigation by the FBI.
On Jan. 14, Nicaraguan detainee Victor Manuel Diaz, 36, died of suicide after staff put him in a medical holding room instead of suicide-resistant cell and left him unattended for intervals longer than 15 minutes, the report said. Staff could not see into the room because the contractor had failed to install vision panels that had been requested months earlier, it found.
“These are huge discrepancies in their failure to prevent suicides,” said Diaz family attorney Randall Kallinen, noting that the report strengthens a potential wrongful death claim he’s considering. “They are part of an entire laundry list of problems at Camp East Montana.”
Biesecker and Foley write for the Associated Press. Foley reported from Iowa City, Iowa.
Taiwan has accused China of carrying out a “provocative act” after Chinese Coast Guard vessels conducted patrols in waters east of the island. The operation followed announcements by Japan and the Philippines that they would begin formal talks on maritime boundary delimitation, a move Beijing views as involving waters linked to Taiwan.
Chinese state media described the deployment as a special maritime law-enforcement operation. Taiwan responded by dispatching Coast Guard vessels, which reportedly warned the Chinese ships away from restricted waters. Defence Minister Wellington Koo characterized the patrols as both a challenge to Taiwan’s sovereignty and an example of “cognitive warfare” aimed at reshaping perceptions of territorial control.
The incident comes amid sustained Chinese military activity around Taiwan, including frequent air and naval operations. Taiwan is also monitoring the movements of the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning, which is operating in the Western Pacific near waters east of the Philippines.
The patrols represent more than a routine maritime operation. They signal China’s growing willingness to extend its presence beyond the Taiwan Strait and into areas east of Taiwan that have traditionally been viewed as strategically important for the island’s defence.
The move also demonstrates Beijing’s opposition to emerging regional cooperation among U.S. partners and allies. The maritime boundary discussions between Japan and the Philippines reflect increasing efforts among regional states to clarify maritime rights and strengthen coordination in contested waters.
For Taiwan, Chinese Coast Guard activities present a complex challenge. Unlike military operations, law-enforcement patrols operate within a legal grey zone that allows Beijing to advance territorial claims without triggering a conventional military confrontation. Such actions can gradually normalize China’s presence in disputed areas while increasing pressure on Taiwan’s security apparatus.
The incident further highlights the growing integration of maritime, legal, and information-based strategies in China’s approach to territorial disputes across the Indo-Pacific.
Taiwan
China
Japan
Philippines
United States
Regional Security Partners
The patrols illustrate China’s increasing reliance on so-called “grey-zone” tactics, which fall below the threshold of open military conflict while steadily advancing strategic objectives. By deploying Coast Guard vessels rather than naval forces, Beijing can challenge Taiwan’s authority while reducing the risk of immediate military escalation.
The incident also reflects the expanding geographical scope of cross-strait competition. Traditionally concentrated in the Taiwan Strait, tensions are increasingly extending into the Western Pacific, where control of maritime approaches carries significant strategic value for both China and Taiwan.
Furthermore, the timing of the operation suggests that Beijing is seeking to influence regional maritime diplomacy. By responding directly to Japan-Philippines boundary discussions, China is signaling its opposition to initiatives that could strengthen legal and political frameworks contrary to its territorial claims.
The episode reinforces concerns among regional governments that maritime disputes are becoming increasingly interconnected, linking Taiwan, the East China Sea, and the South China Sea into a broader strategic contest.
Several developments warrant close attention in the coming weeks:
The incident reflects a broader shift in regional security dynamics, where maritime law-enforcement operations are increasingly being used as instruments of strategic competition. Rather than relying solely on military pressure, China is employing a combination of legal, political, and operational tools to reinforce its territorial claims and shape the regional security environment.
For Taiwan, the challenge extends beyond the immediate presence of Chinese vessels. The longer-term concern lies in preventing the gradual normalization of Chinese activities in areas that Taipei considers vital to its sovereignty and security. As regional actors deepen cooperation on maritime governance and security, incidents of this nature are likely to become an increasingly important indicator of the evolving balance of power in the Indo-Pacific.
With information from Reuters.
NEW LONDON, Conn. — President Trump told the U.S. Coast Guard Academy’s graduates on Wednesday that they show “unbelievable heroism and exceptional selflessness” but that the cadets will “be tested further” as they embark on their military careers.
Trump’s remarks to the class of 2026 were the first time he has given a commencement address at one of the nation’s military academies after sending U.S. troops to fight a new war.
He told the cadets that they will be America’s “first defenders” and “first responders.”
“You’ve all been tested. You’ll be tested further and probably at higher levels as your career goes on,” Trump said.
During his address, Trump quickly touched on the war with Iran, now in its 12th week, as a sign of U.S. success from “the hottest country anywhere in the world.”
“The only question is, do we go ahead and finish it up or are they going to be signing a document? Let’s see what happens,” Trump said.
The Republican president had threatened to launch renewed strikes on Iran this week as talks with Tehran seemed to have stalled and a fragile ceasefire appeared to be teetering. But Trump on Monday said he was giving Iran a few more days because “serious negotiations” were underway.
He has not offered details and has in the past backed away from following through on threats to Iran, citing breakthroughs in talks that have not publicly materialized.
Earlier Wednesday, he told reporters that he’s “in no hurry” to strike a deal to wrap up the war because of political concerns and the November midterm elections.
The commencement was held on a day with scorching heat and there was little shade available as the crowd waited for the ceremony to begin.
At least one person required medical attention after passing out. Others pleaded with organizers for elderly attendants to sit in the shade under tents. Chilled water bottles were distributed freely but quickly became warm.
Trump, who spoke at the academy’s graduation in 2017 during his first term, said he was proud to be the first president to give two commencement addresses at the school.
“We’re going to have to try it maybe a third time, too, to keep that record intact,” Trump said Wednesday.
The president and vice president traditionally speak at one of the military service academies every year. Vice President JD Vance is set to give the commencement address on May 28 at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
Before he flew to Connecticut, Trump told reporters that his message to the cadets would be, “Just enjoy your life.”
“You know, you don’t really realize how important Coast Guard is until you have a hurricane,” Trump said as he praised the maritime service.
Price and Kruesi write for the Associated Press. Price reported from Washington.
The daughter of mosque security guard Amin Abdullah is remembering him as the “absolute best dad in the world.” Family and community members gathered Tuesday to honour Abdullah, who was killed while confronting gunmen during the attack on a San Diego mosque.
Published On 20 May 202620 May 2026
Share