Marine

Oct. 18 (UPI) — The U.S. Marine Corps‘ live-fire event at Camp Pendleton as part of its 250th birthday celebration will cause the closure of Interstate 5 for four hours on Saturday.

The closure is a precaution due to the firing of explosive artillery rounds over the freeway from gunnery ranges at Camp Pendleton in Southern California, which has drawn the ire of California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Newsom accused President Donald Trump of “putting his ego over responsibility with this disregard for public safety” in a prepared statement released on Saturday morning.

“Firing live rounds over a busy highway isn’t just wrong — it’s dangerous,” Newsom said.

“Using our military to intimidate people you disagree with isn’t strength,” he added. “It’s reckless. It’s disrespectful, and it’s beneath the office he holds.”

Trump will not attend the celebratory event, but Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are scheduled to attend, with the live-fire scheduled at 1:30 p.m. local time.

Marine Corps officials initially said there would be no need to close the freeway and only asked that signs be posted warning drivers of the live-fire event and to expect to hear explosions.

California Highway Patrol officials instead announced the freeway would be closed while the event is in progress, according to KTLA-TV.

Due to safety concerns, a section of Interstate 5 will be closed Saturday due to a White House-directed military event at Camp Pendleton involving live ammunition being discharged over the freeway,” Caltrans officials said in a statement on Saturday morning.

“Drivers should expect delays on Interstate 5 and other state routes throughout Southern California before, during and after the event.”

The closure starts at 11 a.m. PDT for the 17-mile stretch of freeway running from Basilone Road near San Onofre in the north to Harbor Drive in Oceanside to the south and reopens at 3 p.m.

The event will include a demonstration of Navy and Marine Corps operations on land, sea and in the air.

Camp Pendleton is located about 40 miles north of San Diego and east of I-5, which runs along the Pacific Coast.

Caltrans officials advise motorists in Los Angeles County to use state routes in San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties to bypass the closed section of freeway.

Several local train routes also will be closed during the live-fire event.

Netflix drama military drama Boots is based on the true story of gay Marine Greg Cope White

Boots, a military drama on Netflix, follows the journey of gay teenager Cameron Cope (portrayed by Miles Heizer) as he enlists in the Marines corps alongside his best mate, despite the inherent dangers.

The series is set in the harsh environment of the 1990s US Marine Corps, a time when homosexuality was still outlawed in the military. It traces the lives of Cameron and Ray McAffey (played by Liam Oh), the offspring of a decorated Marine, as they become part of a diverse group of recruits.

Together, they form unexpected friendships and discover their true identities while being pushed to their limits.

Netflix commented: “With sharp wit and plenty of heart, Boots is about friendship, resilience, and finding your place in the world – even when that world seems determined to keep you in line or leave you behind.”

Greg Cope White, a former sergeant in the US Marine Corps, served as a writer and executive producer for the series.

READ MORE: Netflix fans urged to watch chart-topping film hailed ‘a modern Cinderella’READ MORE: Who is in the cast of Boots on Netflix?

He is an ardent advocate for LGBTQ+ and veteran rights, and has appeared in the PBS docuseries American Veteran and published work in the military journal Zero Dark Thirty.

Reflecting on his journey from his days in the Marine Corps, he posted on Instagram: “At 18, I illegally enlisted in the Marine Corps to find my place as a gay man in the masculine world.

“The book honours my lifelong best friend Dale, who got me through a chaotic childhood, and the Marines who took a chance on me and changed my life.

“And to send a message to others who are bullied: Bullies don’t matter. You do. Hold on.”

Greg completed six years of service with the Marines, achieving the rank of Sergeant, before relocating to New York City to pursue studies in acting and writing.

He eventually settled in Los Angeles, where he secured his breakthrough in writing through employment with Norman Lear.

The Pink Marine website details how joining the Marines represented Greg’s initial struggle, as he “has to cheat to pass the physical and then lie on the enlistment papers about his sexuality”.

The protagonists Cameron and Ray draw inspiration from Greg and his closest mate Dale, with the website outlining the dangers they both faced.

It states: “It’s insanely dangerous for both of them. But as fate would have it, the Few and the Proud turn out to be a bunch of oddballs and eccentrics – and a brotherhood is born.”

Boots is available on Netflix.

Oct. 7 (UPI) — A shuttered Canadian amusement park said that without an infusion of cash it will have to euthanize 30 beluga whales after a government official blocked it from sending the marine mammals to a Chinese theme park.

Marineland, the aquatic theme park located in Niagara Falls, Ontario, laid out the dire situation in a letter Friday to Canadian Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson, The New York Times reported.

Thompson announced days earlier that she denied Marineland’s request to export the belugas to Chimelong Ocean Kingdom theme park in China because it “would have meant a continued life in captivity and a return to public entertainment.”

She further said that she was following requirements of the Fisheries Act meant to prevent the exploitation of marine mammals.

“Like many of you, I am angered that these whales have lived a life of captivity and as a result their health has deteriorated,” Thompson said. “As Canadians, we know that whales belong in the ocean, not in tanks for our amusement.”

Thompson told CBC News that she had visited the closed Marineland facility and concluded the whales belong in the ocean after she “looked the belugas in the eyes.”

Marineland’s business model struggled after a federal law passed in 2019 that banned keeping whales, dolphins and porpoises for breeding or amusement, according to the CBC.

The theme park said there is no suitable ocean “sanctuary” or facility for the whales. Meanwhile, Marineland said its financial situation continues to crumble, leaving it unable to meet the whales’ costly care.

However, Thompson told Marineland in a letter sent Monday that there would be no bailout, The Canadian Press reported.

“The fact that Marineland has not planned for a viable alternative despite raising these whales in captivity for many years, does not place the onus on the Canadian government to cover your expenses,” Thompson wrote.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford told The Canadian Press that the federal government should rethink its position.

“It should be the federal government that allows them to move (the belugas) to China or other marine areas that will take them, but saying no to everything and not coming up with a solution is not a great suggestion,” Ford said.

A dozen groups including the Toronto Zoo, World Animal Protection and Animal Justice wrote to Ford urging the provincial government to seize the animals.

Paddling through the inky blue water in Stockholm’s outer archipelago, all I can see is scattered islands and birds. Some of the islands are mere skerries – rocky outcrops and reefs so small they can host but a single cormorant drying its outstretched wings – while others, such as our target Bullerön, can be a mile or more in length, with historic fishing huts, summer cottages and wooden jetties sitting among their smoothly weathered rocks and windswept forests.

I’m on a two-day sea kayaking tour of Nämdöskärgården, a newly established marine national park, which is a vast 25,000 hectares (62,000 acres) of protected, mostly blue space – it is 97% covered by water – beginning on the outer reaches of the archipelago and stretching well into the Baltic Sea.

It is Sweden’s second marine national park, alongside Kosterhavet on the west coast, and its creation was approved by Swedish parliament in June this year, a summer in which the country also banned bottom trawling – the destructive fishing practice that Sir David Attenborough has likened to “bulldozing a rainforest” – from its marine national parks and nature reserves by July 2026. It’s the first European country to do so (the UK appears to have rejected whole-site bans in more marine protected areas, despite its earlier pledge to extend these – much to the dismay of conservationists).

One of the challenges in getting people to care about ocean conservation is that it’s hard to engage with what we can’t see or experience directly, and the idea behind Nämdöskärgården is not just to preserve the area’s unique ecological diversity, but also to make it accessible to visitors in a low-impact way. Sea kayaking – a popular pastime for Swedes throughout the archipelago – is the perfect way to do that.

My guide Johan Montelius, from Stockholm Adventures, and I get dropped off by taxi boat on Jungfruskär, which, like many isles in the outer archipelago, is uninhabited. We haul our narrow yellow sea kayaks up on to rocks splattered with grey, green and bright orange lichen, and after a quick safety briefing, Johan shows me our route to Idöborg, an island just outside the marine national park, where we’ll spend the night. It’s a journey of around 5 miles, but he assures me the wind will help push us along in parts and we’ll make plenty of stops along the way.

We set off, and after a tricky first 50 metres of paddling into the wind, find ourselves nicely sheltered between two long islands. We settle into an easy, slow rhythm – perfect for tuning into the surrounding natural wonder. There is plenty of birdlife, mostly cormorants, gulls, herons and geese, but we also spot at least five different white-tailed eagles over the two-day trip, as well as a pine marten and a seal. The thing that excites me most, though, is the seaweed, which comes in a host of shades, even the russet colour of autumn leaves. It’s a sign of healthy waters, with the seaweed providing a great nursery for young fish as well as a vital carbon sink – something that absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases.

We paddle over wonderful seagrass meadows, which glisten when the sun breaks through the clouds, and extensive belts of bladder wrack, or blåstång, a dark green seaweed with air pockets. Because the water is so clear, I can see it is also home to lots of periwinkles and other shellfish.

We see no other boats or kayaks, partly because it’s a slightly wet and windy day in September – sunny days in July and August are a lot busier, Johan says – but also because with kayaks we can navigate narrow passages between islands that sail boats and other watercraft can’t. At times, we paddle through fields of high reeds, our route no more than the width of a footpath.

We stop for lunch on another deserted island, feasting on a delicious fish stew made by Johan the night before. Mindful of leaving no trace in an archipelago where I’ve not seen a speck of single-use plastic all day, we check the spot for litter meticulously before we head off.

The islands are beautiful, but they all look the same to me, so I’ve no idea how Johan is navigating so effectively – he only uses the GPS on his phone once, to check our final crossing to Idöborg as the wind picks up. We stash our kayaks in a sheltered sandy bay on the island and check into our cosy forest cabins, which have full A-frame views of the increasingly agitated ocean. Stockholm Adventures offers wild camping when the weather allows, but tonight I’m glad of a roof over my head.

Idöborg is a private island with dense forest, a range of cabin options, and a restaurant that serves tasty, seasonal local food – the jerusalem artichoke soup with seagrass pesto is incredible. It also has a sauna facing the water, with a wooden jetty that invites dipping in the soft, brackish water in between the waves of heat.

When we enjoy it at dusk, the sea still has plenty of energy, but the next morning things are calmer. Our 2.5-mile paddle out to Bullerön, the main island of the Bullerö archipelago, and one of the last islands before the open sea, passes in an easy, meditative haze.

The sun comes out, and we visit the former cottage and studio of the influential Swedish nature painter Bruno Liljefors, which now serves as an information centre for Nämdöskärgården, and walk the island’s stunning circuitous footpath. From the highest point, looking out east to the expanse of the Baltic Sea, it feels good to know this stretch of glistening ocean and all that lies beneath it will be protected.

Over breakfast on Idöborg, I chat to Ylva Tenselius, a Stockholm resident and consultant here on a work team-building trip. When she was growing up, her grandfather used to go out and catch cod all the time. “We would groan and say, ‘No more cod,’ when it was served at the dinner table,” she says, adding that she used to catch perch easily herself with a line, but now both are far less common. She welcomes the new marine park and its conservation goals. “We’ve seen the changes and now it’s time to protect it.”

When I get home to the UK, I call Charles Clover, co-founder of Blue Marine Foundation, an ocean conservation charity, which is campaigning for bottom trawling to be banned from all UK marine protected areas, to ask what he thinks about Nämdöskärgården. “Anything that protects breeding grounds for fish is a positive step,” he says. “The sea is in such a bad state, particularly the Baltic Sea, so I think these protected areas will bring enormous benefits. They will help repair the sea and help nature help itself.”

And he believes low-impact tourism, such as sea kayaking and hiking, can help with that process. “It creates a different use of nature, which is to enjoy it rather than to exploit, and that can only be a good thing.” I couldn’t agree more.

This trip was provided by Visit Sweden. A two-day kayak tour of the Stockholm archipelago with Stockholm Adventures costs 10,490 kronor (£830) for a group of up to four; other itineraries available. Idöborg forest cabins sleep two, from 2,000 kronor (around £160) a night.

Sam Haddad writes the newsletter Climate & Board Sports