operations

Announcing the move, staff at the outlet said ‘authoritarian regimes are already celebrating’ its potential demise.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) will shut down its news operations on Friday, citing the government-funded news outlet’s dire financial situation caused by funding cuts under President Donald Trump’s administration and the ongoing US government shutdown.

Bay Fang, RFA’s president and CEO, said in a statement that “uncertainty about our budgetary future” means that the outlet has been “forced to suspend all remaining news content production”.

“In an effort to conserve limited resources on hand and preserve the possibility of restarting operations should consistent funding become available, RFA is taking further steps to responsibly shrink its already reduced footprint,” she said on Wednesday.

Fang added that RFA would begin closing its overseas bureaus and would formally lay off and pay severance to furloughed staff. She said many staff members have been on unpaid leave since March, “when the US Agency for Global Media [USAGM] unlawfully terminated RFA’s Congressionally appropriated grant”.

On March 14, Trump signed an executive order effectively eliminating USAGM, an independent US government agency created in the mid-1990s to broadcast news and information to regions with poor press freedom records.

Alongside RFA, USAGM also hosts sister publications Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE) and Voice of America (VOA).

Following March’s executive order, RFA was forced to put three-quarters of its US-based employees on unpaid leave and terminate most of its overseas contractors.

Another round of mass layoffs followed in May, along with the termination of several RFA language services, including Tibetan, Burmese and Uighur.

Mass layoffs also took place at VOA in March when Trump signed another executive order placing nearly all 1,400 staff at the outlet – which he described as a “total left-wing disaster” – on paid leave. It has operated on a limited basis since then.

Trump has said operations like RFA, RFE/Radio Liberty and VOA are a waste of government resources and accused them of being biased against his administration.

Since its founding in 1996, RFA has reported on Asia’s most repressive regimes, providing English- and local-language online and broadcast services to citizens of authoritarian governments across the region.

Its flagship projects include its Uighur service – the world’s only independent Uyghur-language outlet, covering the repressed ethnic group in western China – as well as its North Korea service, which reports on events inside the hermit state.

An announcement penned by RFA executive editor Rosa Hwang, published on the outlet’s website on Wednesday, said, “Make no mistake, authoritarian regimes are already celebrating RFA’s potential demise.”

“Independent journalism is at the core of RFA. For the first time since RFA’s inception almost 30 years ago, that voice is at risk,” Hwang said.

“We still believe in the urgency of that mission – and in the resilience of our extraordinary journalists. Once our funding returns, so will we,” she added.

RFE/Radio Liberty, which went through its own round of furloughs earlier this year, said this week that it received its last round of federal funding in September and its news services are continuing for now.

“We plan to continue reaching our audiences for the foreseeable future,” it said.

It’s not immediately clear why RFA and RFE/Radio Liberty – which share the same governing and funding structure, but are based in the US and Europe, respectively – are taking different approaches.

Oct. 24 (UPI) — Alaska Airlines late Thursday announced it was “actively restoring operations” after issuing a ground stoppage due to an IT outage.

The airline said the temporary ground stop was caused by an IT outage affecting all operations.

“We apologize for the inconvenience,” it said on X.

The FlightAware air traffic tracking website states that 54 Alaska Airlines flights were canceled as of early Friday, though it was unclear which, if any, were related to the ground stoppage.

The ground stop comes as flights in the United States have been impacted by the ongoing government shutdown that began Oct. 1, during which many air traffic controllers are ordered to work without pay. The shutdown has worsened staffing shortages, leading to an increase of canceled and delayed flights.

In July, Alaska Airlines issued a system-wide ground stoppage due to an IT issue.

WASHINGTON — President Trump confirmed Wednesday that he has authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela and said he was weighing carrying out land operations on the country.

The acknowledgement of covert action in Venezuela by the U.S. spy agency comes after the U.S. military in recent weeks has carried out a series of deadly strikes against alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean. U.S. forces have destroyed at least five boats since early September, killing 27 people, and four of those vessels originated from Venezuela.

Asked during an event in the Oval Office on Wednesday why he had authorized the CIA to take action in Venezuela, Trump affirmed he had made the move.

“I authorized for two reasons, really,” Trump replied. “No. 1, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America,” he said. “And the other thing, the drugs, we have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela, and a lot of the Venezuelan drugs come in through the sea.”

Trump added the administration “is looking at land” as it considers further strikes in the region. He declined to say whether the CIA has authority to take action against President Nicolás Maduro.

Trump made the unusual acknowledgement of a CIA operation shortly after the New York Times published that the CIA had been authorized to carry out covert action in Venezuela.

Maduro pushes back

On Wednesday, Maduro lashed out at the record of the U.S. spy agency in various conflicts around the world without directly addressing Trump’s comments about authorizing the CIA to carry out covert operations in Venezuela.

“No to regime change that reminds us so much of the [overthrows] in the failed eternal wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and so on,” Maduro said at a televised event of the National Council for Sovereignty and Peace, which is made up of representatives from various political, economic, academic and cultural sectors in Venezuela.

“No to the coups carried out by the CIA, which remind us so much of the 30,000 disappeared,” a figure estimated by human rights organizations such as the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo during the military dictatorship in Argentina (1976-1983). He also referred to the 1973 coup in Chile.

“How long will the CIA continue to carry on with its coups? Latin America doesn’t want them, doesn’t need them and repudiates them,” Maduro added.

The objective is “to say no to war in the Caribbean, no to war in South America, yes to peace,” he said.

Speaking in English, Maduro said: “Not war, yes peace, not war. Is that how you would say it? Who speaks English? Not war, yes peace, the people of the United States, please. Please, please, please.”

In a statement, Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday rejected “the bellicose and extravagant statements by the President of the United States, in which he publicly admits to having authorized operations to act against the peace and stability of Venezuela.”

“This unprecedented statement constitutes a very serious violation of international law and the United Nations’ Charter and obliges the community of countries to denounce these clearly immoderate and inconceivable statements,” said the statement, which Foreign Minister Yván Gil posted on his Telegram channel.

Resistance from Congress

Early this month, the Trump administration declared drug cartels to be unlawful combatants and pronounced the United States is now in an “armed conflict” with them, justifying the military action as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.

The move has spurred anger in Congress from members of both major political parties that Trump was effectively committing an act of war without seeking congressional authorization.

On Wednesday, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said while she supports cracking down on trafficking, the administration has gone too far.

“The Trump administration’s authorization of covert CIA action, conducting lethal strikes on boats and hinting at land operations in Venezuela slides the United States closer to outright conflict with no transparency, oversight or apparent guardrails,” New Hampshire’s Shaheen said. “The American people deserve to know if the administration is leading the U.S. into another conflict, putting servicemembers at risk or pursuing a regime-change operation.”

The Trump administration has yet to provide underlying evidence to lawmakers proving that the boats targeted by the U.S. military were in fact carrying narcotics, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

The officials, who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the administration has only pointed to unclassified video clips of the strikes posted on social media by Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and has yet to produce “hard evidence” that the vessels were carrying drugs.

Lawmakers have expressed frustration that the administration is offering little detail about how it came to decide the U.S. is in armed conflict with cartels or which criminal organizations it claims are “unlawful combatants.”

Even as the U.S. military has carried out strikes on some vessels, the U.S. Coast Guard has continued with its typical practice of stopping boats and seizing drugs.

Trump on Wednesday explained away the action, saying the traditional approach hasn’t worked.

“Because we’ve been doing that for 30 years, and it has been totally ineffective. They have faster boats,” he said. ”They’re world-class speedboats, but they’re not faster than missiles.”

Human rights groups have raised concerns that the strikes flout international law and are extrajudicial killings.

Madhani writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Jorge Rueda in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.

United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday confirmed that he has authorised the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to carry out covert operations in Venezuela.

He added that his administration was also mulling land-based military operations inside Venezuela, as tensions between Washington and Caracas soar over multiple deadly US strikes on Venezuelan boats in the Caribbean Sea in recent weeks.

On Wednesday, Trump held a news conference with some of his top law enforcement officials, where he faced questions about an earlier news report in The New York Times about the CIA authorisation. One reporter asked directly, “Why did you authorise the CIA to go into Venezuela?”

“I authorised for two reasons, really,” Trump replied. “Number one, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America.”

“The other thing,” he continued, was Venezuela’s role in drug-trafficking. He then appeared to imply that the US would take actions on foreign soil to prevent the flow of narcotics and other drugs.

“We have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela,” Trump said. “A lot of the Venezuelan drugs come in through the sea.  So you get to see that. But we’re going to stop them by land also.”

Trump’s remarks mark the latest escalation in his campaign against Venezuela, whose leader, Nicolas Maduro, has long been a target for the US president, stretching back to Trump’s first term in office.

Already, both leaders have bolstered their military forces along the Caribbean Sea in a show of potential force.

The Venezuelan government hit back at Trump’s latest comments and the authorised CIA operations, accusing the US of violating international law and the UN Charter.

“The purpose of US actions is to create legitimacy for an operation to change the regime in Venezuela, with the ultimate goal of taking control of all the country’s resources,” the Maduro government said in a statement.

Earlier, at the news conference, reporters sought to confront Trump over whether he was trying to enforce regime change in Caracas.

“Does the CIA have authority to take out Maduro?” one journalist asked at the White House on Wednesday.

“Oh, I don’t want to answer a question like that. That’s a ridiculous question for me to be given,” Trump said, demurring. “Not really a ridiculous question, but wouldn’t it be a ridiculous question for me to answer?”

He then offered an addendum: “But I think Venezuela’s feeling heat.”

Claiming wartime powers

Trump’s responses, at times meandering, touched on his oft-repeated claims about Venezuela.

Since taking office for a second term, Trump has sought to assume wartime powers – using laws like the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 – by alleging that Venezuela had masterminded an “invasion” of migrants and criminal groups onto US soil.

He has offered little proof for his assertions, though, and his statements have been undercut by the assessments of his own intelligence community.

In May, for example, a declassified US report revealed that intelligence officials had found no evidence directly linking Maduro to criminal groups like Tren de Aragua, as Trump has alleged.

Still, on Wednesday, Trump revisited the baseless claim that Venezuela under Maduro had sent prisoners and people with mental health conditions to destabilise the US.

“Many countries have done it, but not like Venezuela.  They were down and dirty,” Trump said.

The authorisation of CIA operations inside Venezuela is the latest indication that Trump has been signing secret proclamations to lay the groundwork for lethal action overseas, despite insisting in public that he seeks peace globally.

In August, for instance, anonymous sources told the US media that Trump had also signed an order allowing the US military to take action against drug-trafficking cartels and other Latin American criminal networks.

And in October, it emerged that Trump had sent a memo to the US Congress asserting that the country was in a “non-international armed conflict” with the cartels, whom he termed “unlawful combatants”.

Many such groups, including Tren de Aragua, have also been added to the US’s list of “foreign terrorist organisations”, though experts point out that the label alone does not provide a legal basis for military action.

Strikes in the Caribbean Sea

Nevertheless, the US under Trump has taken a series of escalatory military actions, including by conducting multiple missile strikes on small vessels off the Venezuelan coast.

At least five known air strikes have been conducted on boats since September 2, killing 27 people.

The most recent attack was announced on Tuesday in a social media post: A video Trump shared showed a boat floating in the water, before a missile set it alight. Six people were reportedly killed in that bombing.

Many legal experts and former military officials have said that the strikes appear to be a clear violation of international law. Drug traffickers have not traditionally met the definition of armed combatants in a war. And the US government has so far not presented any public evidence to back its claims that the boats were indeed carrying narcotics headed for America.

But Trump has justified the strikes by saying they will save American lives lost to drug addiction.

He has maintained the people on board the targeted boats were “narco-terrorists” headed to the US.

On Wednesday, he again brushed aside a question about the lack of evidence. He also defended himself against concerns that the bombings amount to extrajudicial killings.

“When they’re loaded up with drugs, they’re fair game,” Trump told reporters, adding there was “fentanyl dust all over the boat after those bombs go off”.

He added, “We know we have much information about each boat that goes. Deep, strong information.”

Framing the bombing campaign in the Caribbean as a success, Trump then explained his administration might start to pivot its strategy.

“ We’ve almost totally stopped it by sea. Now, we’ll stop it by land,” he said of the alleged drug trafficking. He joked that even fishermen had decided to stay off the waters.

“ We are certainly looking at land now because we’ve got the sea very well under control.”

Oct. 12 (UPI) — Search-and-rescue operations were underway Sunday night in Alaska as several people remain unaccounted for while typhoon remnants continue to batter the Last Frontier state.

Alaska State Troopers said in a statement that at least three people were unaccounted for in Kwigillingok, along the west coast of the state. There were also reports of people unaccounted for in nearby Kipnuk, where homes were pushed from their foundations by heaving winds and flooding.

The operation rescued 18 people in Kwigillingok and at least 16 from Kipnuk, the state police force said, adding that both communities were hit with strong winds and heavy flooding Saturday night.

“This is an active and ongoing search-and-rescue mission,” it said adding that the Alaska Air National Guard, Alaska Army National Guard and the U.S. Coast Guard were aiding in the effort.

Western Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and Nunivak Island were hit hard by remnants of Typhoon Halong over the weekend, with the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management stating they experienced hurricane-force winds, some areas in gusts in excess of 100 mph. “Significant” storm surges leading to widespread flooding were also recorded, it said.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued a disaster declaration on Thursday as the state was already being negatively impacted by the storm. On Sunday, he expanded that order, making available state public and other assistance programs to those affected in the named in the region.

He said Kipnuk and Kwigillingok had been “hard hit” and that rescue aircraft were on their way.

“Every effort will be made to help those hit by this storm,” he said in a Sunday evening release.

In Kipnuk, where water levels reached 6.6 feet above high tide overnight, 172 people had sought shelter, according to the state.

In Kwigillingok, water levels reached a height of 6.3 feet above high tide and more than 100 people required shelter. At least four homes were “inundated,” it said.

The National Weather Service said Sunday afternoon that the storm was continuing to move across Alaska’s west coast, with high wind warnings to remain in effect through Monday Morning for Norton Sound and Kotzebue Sound and through Tuesday morning for the northwest Alaska coast.

For some areas, coastal flooding warnings will remain in effect through Tuesday morning.

The German airport says that 46 flights had been cancelled or delayed, affecting 6,500 passengers.

Germany’s Munich airport has reopened after authorities shut it down the previous night for the second time in less than 24 hours after more suspected drone sightings, as fears heighten across Europe that Russia’s war in Ukraine could spill over across the continent.

The airport, one of Germany’s largest, reopened gradually from 7am local time (05:00 GMT) on Saturday.

Forty-six departures from the airport had to be cancelled or delayed until Saturday, affecting 6,500 passengers.

Munich airport said that on Friday, “from 9:30 pm air traffic was restricted and then cancelled due to drone sightings”, meaning 23 incoming flights were diverted and 12 bound for Munich were cancelled, leaving nearly 3,000 passengers stranded.

A police spokesman told the AFP news agency that there were “two simultaneous confirmed drone sightings by police patrols just before 11pm around the north and south runways”.

“The drones immediately moved away, before they could be identified,” he added.

Authorities were not immediately able to provide any information about who was responsible for the overflights.

Airports in Denmark, Norway and Poland have recently suspended flights due to unidentified drones, while Romania and Estonia have pointed the finger at Russia for drone incursions on their territory. Drones were also spotted overnight in Belgium above a military base.

Some experts have noted, however, that anybody with drones could be behind them.

Earlier on Friday, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told newspaper Bild that the first night’s incident was a “wake-up call” on the threat from drones, adding that “more financing and research” on the issue was urgently needed at the national and European levels.

The disruptions came as the country celebrated German Unity Day on Friday – a national holiday – and as Munich geared up for the final weekend of Oktoberfest.

The annual beer gala and fun fair had already closed for half a day on Wednesday after a bomb scare.

The German government is expected on Wednesday to sign off on plans for a change in the law to let the army shoot drones down if necessary.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Europe on Thursday that the recent drone incursions showed Moscow was looking to “escalate” its aggression.

Germany is on high alert, saying a swarm of them had flown over the country last week, including over military and industrial sites.

Denmark also raised the alarm, with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen reiterating last week that only one country “poses a threat to Europe’s security – and that’s Russia”.

Moscow said it “firmly rejects” any suggestion of involvement, with Russian President Vladimir Putin accusing Europe of stoking “hysteria” to justify rising military spending.

Putin, speaking at the Valdai Discussion Club in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Thursday, joked about European claims that Russian drones had invaded NATO airspace, saying that he promised he would not do it again, in the case of Denmark, and that he did not have drones that could fly all the way to Portugal’s capital, Lisbon.

“I will not. I will not [send] any more drones, neither to France nor to Denmark, Copenhagen. Where else do they fly to?” Putin quipped.

It had operated from Stansted Airport and Liverpool Airport

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has issued guidance after Play Airlines (Iceland), an airline serving Stansted and Liverpool airports, abruptly ceased all operations.

The CAA confirmed that all flights operated by Play Airlines have now been cancelled, advising passengers: “Therefore, please do not go to the airport as flights will not be operating. Play Airlines customers are therefore urged to make their own alternative travel arrangements if required.”

Andrew McConnell, spokesperson for the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said on Monday evening: “It’s always unfortunate when an airline ceases operations, and we understand that Play Airlines’ decision will be unsettling for its employees and customers. UK customers seeking the latest information are advised to visit the Civil Aviation Authority’s website.”

In a statement, Play Airlines announced: “Fly PLAY hf. has ceased operations and all flights have been cancelled. We kindly advise you to check flights with other airlines. Some carriers may offer special ‘rescue fares’ considering the circumstances.”

The airline further advised passengers who purchased their ticket with a payment card to contact their card issuer regarding a refund, while those who booked a ticket as part of a package through a travel agency in the EEA should reach out to their travel agent for assistance.

The airline added: “Some rights may also apply under EU Air Passenger regulations. In case of bankruptcy, claims should be directed to the appointed administrator.”

Encouraging passengers to seek advice from www.icetra.is and www.kefairport.com, it said: “We are deeply sorry for the disruption this causes and thank you for your understanding.”

Sept. 20 (UPI) — TikTok’s U.S. operations will be controlled by Americans in a planned deal to spin off the wildly popular social media platform from its Chinese owners, White House press secretary Karolina Leavitt said Saturday.

Appearing Saturday on Fox News, Leravitt said Americans will be on six of the seven board seats and the algorithm of the app would also not be controlled by China.

There have been concerns about potential national security risks and data privacy issues linked to the app, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, including Chinese government surveillance of Americans and the Chinese government possibly influencing the content of 137 million monthly active U.S. users.

Overall, there are more than 1.8 billion monthly active users worldwide.

“This deal means that TikTok will be majority-owned by Americans in the United States,” Leavitt said, exactly nine months after Donald Trump was inaugurated for his second term as U.S. President.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Madrid this week worked to spin off ByteDance’s U.S. TikTok operations.

On Friday, Trump said he finalized the deal in a call with China’s President Xi Jinping, posting on Truth Social, and saying he “appreciate [sic] the TikTok approval.”

Trump signed four 90-day extensions, including one Tuesday.

“So all of those details have already been agreed upon, now we just need this deal to be signed and that will be happening, I anticipate, in the coming days,” Leavitt said.

Though the deal needs to be signed by all the parties, she said there is a 100% chance it will happen

Financial details of the deal have not been released.

With the algorithm, the value of U.S. operations is difficult to calculate, Forbes said in January. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives believes that $300 billion “could be conservative,” though others list the valuation somewhere in between from $20 billion.

On Thursday, Trump said that the United States would get a “tremendous fee” for its part in brokering the deal.

“The people that are investing in it are among the greatest investors in the world – the biggest, the richest and they’ll do a great job,” Trump said at a joint news conference Thursday in England with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “We’re doing it in conjunction with China, but the United States is getting a tremendous fee-plus – I call it a fee-plus — just for making the deal and I don’t want to throw that out the window.”

In the arrangement, China’s ByteDance will hold less than 20% with the new investor group, which includes Oracle Corp., Andreessen Horowitz and the private equity firm Silver Lake Management LLC.

Oracle, which is a multinational technology company headquartered in Austin, Texas, will serve as TikTok’s security provider and monitor the app for safety, working with the U.S. government. Data of American users will be stored in the U.S. with no access by China, Leavitt said.

“The data and privacy will be led by one of America’s greatest tech companies, Oracle, and the algorithm will also be controlled by America as well,” Leavitt said.

Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle, became the world’s richest person on Sept. 10, but Elon Musk was back on top at the end of the trading day, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. Ellison’s wealth now is at $367 billion, behind Musk at $440 billion

American board members will have national security and cybersecurity credentials, and the board member chosen by ByteDance will be excluded from the security committee.

The platform, which began in 2016 as Douyin, is projected to have $18.49 billion in ad revenue in 2025, according to Demandsage.

Six of seven board seats for TikTok’s US operations will be held by Americans, White House press secretary says.

A deal between Washington and Beijing for the Chinese parent company of video-sharing app TikTok to sell its US operations would see the formation of an American-majority board, the White House has announced.

“There will be seven seats on the board that controls the app in the United States, and six of those seats will be Americans,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Saturday.

According to Leavitt, a deal could be signed “in the coming days”.

Leavitt’s comments come one day after US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks in a bid to finalise an agreement that will allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States amid threats of a ban.

While Trump described the conversation as being a “very good call … appreciate the TikTok approval” on his Truth Social platform, China did not confirm any agreement between the two sides.

It has been reported that Larry Ellison, the billionaire cofounder of tech firm Oracle, is part of an investor group whose companies are looking to buy the app.

Leavitt on Saturday seemed to confirm Oracle’s participation in purchasing TikTok.

“The data and privacy will be led by one of America’s greatest tech companies, Oracle, and the algorithm will also be controlled by America as well,” she told Fox News.

“So all of those details have already been agreed upon. Now we just need this deal to be signed.”

TikTok boasts about 175 million users in the US, making it one of the top five social media apps.

However, the platform has been beset by controversies when lawmakers under the Joe Biden administration passed legislation to force the platform to divest itself of its ownership by the Chinese internet company ByteDance.

Both Democrats and Republicans supported the legislation due to security concerns that Beijing could have access to TikTok data and could spread Chinese propaganda through TikTok’s algorithm.

Trump himself proposed banning TikTok during his first term as US president, signing two executive orders in August 2020 that were aimed at restricting the app. However, the US president did a U-turn, pledging to “save” the popular app during his 2024 re-election campaign.

China has consistently denied claims by US lawmakers that Beijing pressures apps like TikTok to collect personal information for the state.

A Hollywood institution known for mystery, deception and drama, the Magic Castle is now gripped by a new variety of suspense.

Magic Castle mansion owner Randy Pitchford, who bought the establishment in 2022, has presented a reorganization plan to his tenant, the Academy of Magical Arts. The AMA is the nonprofit club that operates the castle and whose performer-members have helped build it into one of the world’s top venues for magic.

In a series of proposals, Pitchford has offered AMA members a choice between embracing his plan — which gives him control over castle operations and most revenue — or finding another clubhouse when the academy’s lease expires Dec. 31, 2028.

Members have until Sept. 29 to decide.

With backing from the AMA’s board of directors, Pitchford presents this moment as a chance for the academy to secure a vibrant future for the Magic Castle while preserving its legacy.

But the proposal is causing “division, fracturing and confusion” among many AMA members, as one magician, Ralph Shelton, put it. Some members, who asked not to publish their names, told The Times they believe that Pitchford is using an ultimatum to take control of the castle. Other members say they simply worry that Pitchford is giving AMA members too little information.

“The easiest people to fool are magicians and scientists,” said Shelton, a Huntington Beach attorney who put himself through law school by doing magic. “You know what they’re looking for and you work around that.”

Pitchford did not immediately respond Thursday to requests for comment on the allegation that he is using an ultimatum to take control of the castle. But Pitchford and his team had said that by taking over the risks and rewards that come with running the Castle, his company is freeing up the AMA to focus on its non-commercial mission — promoting magic — “for as long as it wishes to use the Magic Castle as its clubhouse.”

Since Sept. 8, the academy’s 4,664 members have been casting electronic votes on whether to change the organization’s bylaws and other documents to allow the proposed realignment. In previous polling, the members who voted have heavily favored a deal. A “yes” vote would mean the reorganization would begin as soon as Oct. 1.

At the Magic Castle, guests say a secret password to enter.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Pitchford learned magic at the castle before building a video game empire as the co-founder of Gearbox Entertainment. In a Sept. 9 statement to The Times, he noted that he and his wife were married in the Magic Castle’s Palace of Mystery in 1997, “so our investment into its preservation and quality is quite personal to us.”

As an AMA member for more than 30 years, he said he is “thrilled that the Academy of Magical Arts, with the overwhelming support of the membership, are our ally in forging a bold, mission-first partnership for at least the next 30 years of magic at the Magic Castle.”

The Magic Castle, a 1909 Edwardian-style mansion, opened in 1963 as a clubhouse and performance venue for the Academy of Magical Arts, which was founded and sustained for years by the Larsen family. From the start, the academy was a tenant in the building, leasing from private owners, the Glover family, on terms often described as “a handshake deal.”

For decades, visitors have been drawn by the idea of dressing to the nines and roaming room to room, sipping cocktails as conjurers and sleight-of-hand artists ply their trade. Performers and members have included Cary Grant, Johnny Carson, Orson Welles, Jason Alexander, Neil Patrick Harris and Larry Wilmore (who sits on the board of directors). Exclusivity is part of the appeal, too. To get in, most guests need an invite from a member.

The enterprise ran into trouble in 2020 when the pandemic shut it down and a Times investigation detailed allegations of sexual harassment, groping and racism. In 2021, the mansion reopened amid a leadership overhaul.

Erika Larsen, president of Magic Castle Enterprises, and mansion owner Randy Pitchford.

(Tara Ziemba / Getty Images)

The latest chapter in the castle’s story began in April 2022 when Pitchford bought the property from its longtime landlords, the Glover family.

Pitchford, 54, whose Texas-based company created the popular Borderlands video game franchise, is a controversial figure in the video game industry. His purchase of the castle, valued by the L.A. County Assessor at $50 million, also included an adjacent apartment building and the 33-unit Magic Hotel next door.

About the same time as the castle purchase, Pitchford also bought intellectual property rights to the Magic Castle name from Milt Larsen, who died in 2023.

When Pitchford was announced as buyer of the castle, many academy members voiced optimism. “We were absolutely thrilled beyond measure,” said Paul Kott, an Anaheim-based commercial and residential real estate broker who has been an AMA member for 50 years. “We know his heart wants to dedicate this place to the art of magic.”

To manage the new holdings, Pitchford and his wife, Kristy Pitchford, created companies called Magic Castle Enterprises (for intellectual property) and Magic Castle Entertainment (for real estate), together known as MCE. They also enlisted Erika Larsen, daughter of castle pioneers Bill and Irene Larsen, as president of Magic Castle Enterprises, and Jessica Hopkins, granddaughter of Bill and Irene Larsen, as chief operating officer.

In January 2024, the AMA’s leadership told members that the group’s lease on the building would not be renewed — causing a surge of anxiety among members — and that academy board was negotiating with MCE in hopes of keeping the group in place.

On July 30, 2024, AMA members said they received an email that included a warning from MCE saying that if it couldn’t make a deal with the academy, MCE might “create a new club with enticing features and pricing” that “might possibly lead to [the academy’s] demise.”

(In a later email exchange with The Times, Pitchford said he did not recall that specific sentence; he did not respond to a request to confirm or deny the passage.)

In December 2024, AMA leaders invited members to vote on a proposed “resolution implementation agreement” for MCE to take over the Magic Castle’s commercial operations while the academy remained on site indefinitely and focused on its nonprofit role, including awards programs and educational efforts.

MCE reported that more than 90% of ballots favored the deal. Opponents said that a minority of members cast votes. A second vote yielded similar results.

Further details emerged in a “white paper” document that MCE circulated in February 2025. It said MCE would operate and collect revenue from the castle gift shop, bar, restaurant, box office and valet parking. AMA members would pay dues through a new entity which would divide that revenue between MCE and the academy. The Magic Castle would serve “as the exclusive clubhouse of the AMA indefinitely.”

MCE also pledged to invest $10 million in capital improvements and maintenance and relieve the AMA of remaining lease and trademark-related financial obligations. Meanwhile, the AMA board of directors would gradually shrink from nine members to five, two of them nominated by MCE.

In March, the Magic Castle announced that the MCE and AMA board of directors had signed a resolution implementation agreement, the framework for a deal. An AMA spokesperson said that MCE and the AMA board of directors “have negotiated terms for long-term access. Details of the agreement will not be released.”

“I think [Pitchford] has tried to do everything in his power to preserve the nature of this iconic place,” said longtime member Christopher Hart, who serves as chair of the academy’s board of trustees, which oversees artistic choices at the castle. Hart played “Thing,” the disembodied hand, in the “Addams Family” movies.

“The rumors have been so rampant in so many directions,” said Gay Blackstone, a longtime member who has served in many roles on the academy board of directors and board of trustees. Blackstone said she still has research to do before casting her vote but “I know that [Pitchford’s] love and passion for the magic are tremendous.”

Still, for some, doubts persist. “I don’t think the membership is being given what they need to make a good decision…. How long can we stay? how much is it going to cost?” Kott asked.

Now comes another membership vote. On Sept. 8, members began a binding vote on proposed changes in academy bylaws and other documents that would make the new deal possible. Those changes include creation of a Magic Castle Club, separate from the Academy of Magical Arts.

That “is an important wrinkle,” Shelton said.

The concept of the Magic Castle Club “is not to compete with the A.M.A., but we needed a new entity to collect dues on behalf of the A.M.A. and MCE per the arrangement,” Randy Pitchford said in a statement to The Times Sept. 15. Once an agreement is in place, Pitchford said, “All club activities, events, initiatives, etc, are and will be led and directed by the Academy of Magical Arts.”

The goal, MCE leaders have said, is “a seamless transition with a focus on an uninterrupted member and guest experience.”

If the membership rejects the changes, Christopher Grant, president of the academy’s board of directors, said in a statement that “MCE will terminate its current lease with the AMA” and the academy would need to find a new clubhouse by January 2029.

Further effects of a “no” vote, especially for academy-member performers and audiences at the Magic Castle, are harder to predict.

In his Sept. 9 statement, Pitchford suggested that the new proposal puts in place “the same kind of relationship that founded and created” the Magic Castle in the first place.

“Change is always scary,” Hart said. “Members just want the same experience they’ve always had and loved about the castle.” The proposed changes, Hart added, “could make the castle greater than it’s ever been.”

The last MC-12W Liberty turboprop surveillance aircraft under U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command’s (AFSOC) umbrella have been retired. This is part of a plan to free up resources to help with the fielding of the new OA-1K Skyraider II light attack aircraft, which has also been set to involve the retirement of the U-28A Draco, another turboprop surveillance plane. At the same time, AFSOC insists that the OA-1K is not a direct replacement for the MC-12Ws or the U-28As, which has prompted concerns about capability and capacity gaps.

AFSOC confirmed the divestiture of its last MC-12Ws to TWZ last week. The 137th Special Operations Wing, part of the Oklahoma Air National Guard and aligned with AFSOC, conducted a retirement ceremony for the Liberty aircraft last month. The event was held at Will Rogers Air National Guard Base, which is co-located with Will Rogers International Airport in Oklahoma City. The 137th has also been working closely with the active-duty 492nd Special Operations Wing at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona to train the initial cadre of OA-1K pilots.

“During the time it was assigned to 137th Special Operations Wing, the MC-12W logged 50,725 flying hours and 2,501 combat and combat-support sorties across six locations outside the continental U.S.,” according to a brief press release from the wing on August 3.

A modified Beechcraft King Air 350ER twin-engine turboprop, the MC-12W first entered Air Force service back in 2009. The year before, then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates had directed the service to acquire the aircraft to help meet the massive surge in demand for aerial intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) support during the Global War on Terror (GWOT) era, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Liberty name is a reference to the Liberty Ships of World War II fame, and the speed with which those vital logistics vessels were built and put into service. The first of what eventually became a fleet of around 40 Air Force MC-12Ws began flying operational missions eight months after funding for their purchase was approved.

The MC-12W configuration included a sensor turret with electro-optical and infrared video cameras and a signals intelligence (SIGINT) suite. Each aircraft also had satellite and other communications capabilities to share video feeds and other data with friendly forces in near-real time.

Amid the scaling back of U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in the early to mid-2010s, regular Air Force units stopped flying the MC-12W. At least a portion of the remaining Liberty aircraft fleet was passed to AFSOC, as well as the U.S. Army. The Oklahoma Air National Guard’s 137th Air Refueling Wing transitioned to the 137th Special Operations Wing in 2015, and subsequently received 13 MC-12Ws.

ISR-configured Beechcraft King Air variants with varying sensor suites and other capabilities have been and continue to be very popular globally, including with the U.S. military and other branches of the U.S. government. Contractor-owned and/or operated examples have often been part of the mix supporting U.S. operations, as well. For decades, dating back to the Cold War, the Army has been a particularly prolific operator of these planes, but the service is now set to stop flying turboprop surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft of any type by the end of this year. The U.S. special operations community has also utilized other variations beyond the MC-12W, and what might happen to those planes as part of the fielding of the OA-1K is not entirely clear.

The two-seat OA-1K, which U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) declared the winner of its Armed Overwatch competition in 2022, is based on the Air Tractor AT-802 single-engine turboprop crop duster. AFSOC is expecting to eventually receive 75 Skyraider IIs, though there have been questions in recent years about whether that fleet size might shrink.

As designed, the OA-1K can carry up to 6,000 pounds of ordnance and other stores on up to eight underwing pylons, but the aircraft for AFSOC have typically been shown with no more than six fitted. The planes also have a “robust suite of radios and datalinks providing multiple means for line-of-sight (LOS) and beyond line-of-sight (BLOS) communications,” L3Harris, the prime contractor for the conversion work, has said in the past.

OA-1Ks can carry camera turrets and other sensors in underwing pods, but these provide limited capability compared to the integrated ISR suite found on the MC-12W. As noted, SOCOM and the Air Force have themselves stressed repeatedly that they do not see the Skyraider II as a direct replacement for the Liberty aircraft or the U-28A, the latter of which also has a mix of electro-optical and infrared video cameras and SIGINT capabilities.

“The MC-12W Liberty’s real-time intelligence and surveillance capabilities complement the OA-1K Skyraider II’s precision strike support, making their collaboration a powerful asset to Air Force Special Operations Command’s mission,” the caption to a picture released by AFSOC’s 1st Special Operations Wing of the two types flying together back in June reads, somewhat ironically now given the divestiture of the former.

What plans SOCOM and AFSOC might have now for a more direct replacement for the MC-12Ws and U-28As are unclear. A slide on crewed ISR platforms that SOCOM’s Program Executive Officer for Fixed Wing programs (PEO-FW) presented at the annual SOF Week conference in May, seen below, simply says the current “driving operational needs” are “maintaining platform effectiveness throughout anticipated remaining lifecycle of the individual programs,” and provides some general comments on possible upgrades to existing platforms. The slide notably shows the U-28A, as well as an image reflecting SOCOM’s fleet of ISR-configured twin-engine Dash-8 turboprops, but not the MC-12W. The uncertainty has already prompted concerns about potential ISR capability and capacity gaps.

“SOCOM plans to divest two ISR platforms. Subsequently, some personnel and resources from the platforms will be used to support Armed Overwatch,” the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a Congressional watchdog, wrote in a report on the Armed Overwatch program released in September 2024. “However, GAO found that SOCOM has not taken steps to plan for, or add, critical ISR capabilities provided by soon-to-be divested aircraft. Also, SOCOM has not addressed risks associated with the loss of these capabilities if the new aircraft does not provide them.”

Broader questions have been raised about the overall operational utility of the OA-1K given the Pentagon’s current stated focus on preparing for future high-end fights, especially one against China in the Pacific. The stated purpose of the Skyraider II is to provide “a deployable, affordable, and sustainable crewed aircraft systems [sic] capable of executing Close Air Support (CAS), precision strike, and armed reconnaissance requirements in austere and permissive environments for use in Irregular Warfare,” according to the most recent proposed defense budget for the 2026 Fiscal Year.

A key driver behind the Armed Overwatch program in the past was also to help free up tactical combat jets, bombers, and other higher-end aircraft that had been performing CAS and armed reconnaissance in permissive airspace over countries like Afghanistan and Iraq for more demanding and/or higher-priority missions. At the same time, this would reduce wear and tear on those platforms from flying constant and often short-endurance sorties. A light attack aircraft like the OA-1K would have the additional benefit of being able to operate a minimal logistics footprint at far-flung locations closer to actual operating areas. In turn, this would reduce the time it would take them to get on station and increase their ability to loiter in a particular area once they arrived, all without adding to the strain of already heavily in-demand aerial refueling tankers.

Furthermore, the Armed Overwatch program, which formally began in 2020, followed years of abortive light attack aircraft programs and other tangential test and evaluation efforts, all driven heavily by the demands of the Global War on Terror (GWOT) era. By the time the OA-1K was picked as the winner of the Armed Overwatch competition in 2022, the U.S. military had withdrawn from Afghanistan. Since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, his administration has been working to further reduce American commitments in Syria and Iraq, as well as in various parts of Africa.

“The way that the OA-1K will look on day one is not how probably the OA-1K will look on day 1,000,” A high-ranking Air Force official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss planning issues, told TWZ in an interview earlier this year. “As we field it, it will continue to iterate based on the requirements that our supported forces articulate to us. We’re intimately involved with all of those forces, even as we speak, on shaping the initial and then also the growing requirements that I’m sure that we will find for that platform going forward.”

The Skyraider II “was designed to be very flexible. A big element of the platform is, again, this notion of modularity, [and] open systems architecture,” they continued. “What that does for us is, on a given mission, you might put certain types of capabilities [on the aircraft] – those could be ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] capabilities, … strike capabilities – you may have more of one than the other, depending on the day or the mission requirement of the supported force. But then the next day, that may change, and you can rapidly swap out what the capabilities are of the platform on a given mission.”

“How could we support them [friendly forces] if it’s in the Pacific or anywhere else? The OA-1K certainly has some roles and missions that can [provide] support there. And then in a large-scale combat operation, we are looking at, in partnership with other components of SOCOM [U.S. Special Operations Command], what are some of the things that it could do,” they added. “Can it employ air-launched effects, at range, at standoff, in a flexible way that would provide value?”

‘Launched effect’ is a catch-all term that the U.S. military currently uses to refer broadly to uncrewed aerial systems that can be launched from air, ground, and maritime platforms. These systems could be configured as one-way attackers or to perform other non-kinetic missions, including electronic warfare, ISR, and signal relay. AFSOC has also been looking into new standoff capabilities of AC-130J Ghostrider gunships, including the integration of new Black Arrow Small Cruise Missiles (SCM) and existing AGM-48 Harpoon anti-ship cruise missiles, as a path to ensuring the relevance of those aircraft in future high-end fights.

“From when OA-1K was conceptualized and decided on until now, the world’s changed a little bit,” Lt. Gen. Michael Conley, head of AFSOC, also told TWZ and others at a media roundtable on the sidelines of the Air & Space Forces Association’s main annual conference last year. “But as we move forward, I think there’s opportunity to look at, again, some novel mission sets. …how quick can we get the wings on and off it so we could use it in some sort of crisis response, if we needed to? Where does the role of SIGINT [signals intelligence], or ELINT [electronic intelligence] or… some sort of ISR collect [factor in] there. I think there’s opportunity for that. Again, not anything we’ve committed to yet.”

Air Force and SOCOM officials have also continued to stress that lower-intensity missions, as well as cooperation with allies and partners facing those types of threats, are not going away despite the focus on China in the Pacific region. The possibility of employing OA-1Ks at least in a surveillance role along the southern U.S. border with Mexico has been raised multiple times, as well.

Much about the OA-1K’s future still looks to be settled, but AFSOC has now gotten rid of its MC-12W Liberty aircraft to help make way for the new light attack aircraft.

Howard Altman contributed to this story.

Contact the author: [email protected]

The Pentagon’s two top leaders traveled to Puerto Rico amid growing tensions with Venezuela and its leader, Nicolas Maduro. The U.S. territory is serving as a staging ground for the arrival of equipment and personnel as the Trump administration continues bringing assets to the fight against drug cartels. The Trump administration considers Maduro a narco-terrorist and cartel leader.

During his visit, Hegseth flew a U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey to the USS Iwo Jima, the lead ship in the Iwo Jima Amphibious Readiness Group (ARG). The ship is part of the counter-narcotics effort and currently stationed about 30 miles south of Puerto Rico.

Local sources report an Israeli operation in Kiswa, where six soldiers were killed by Israeli drones strikes a day before.

Israeli forces have conducted a series of strikes on a former army barracks in Kiswa, southwest of the Syrian capital of Damascus, according to Syria’s state-run al-Ekhbariya TV.

Video verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency showed Israeli aircraft attacking sites in the village on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a Syrian military source told Al Jazeera that the Israeli army carried out a landing operation in the barracks with the use of four helicopters.

According to the source, the Israeli army brought in dozens of soldiers and an unspecified amount of search equipment as it spent more than two hours at the site.

No clashes took place between the Israeli forces involved in the landing and the Syrian army forces.

The operation came a day after an Israeli drone strike killed six soldiers near Kiswa, and as Syrian officials in the government of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa have increasingly accused Israel of seeking to expand its control in the region.

In a statement on Wednesday, Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the strike “a gross violation of international law and the United Nations Charter”.

It added that the attack represented “a clear breach of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic”.

Israel has launched hundreds of strikes targeting military sites and assets across Syria since the fall of former leader Bashar al-Assad in December. It has also expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing the demilitarised buffer zone, a move that violated a 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria.

On Monday, Syria’s Foreign Ministry said that Israel had sent 60 soldiers to take control of an area inside the Syrian border around Mount Hermon, near a strategic hilltop close to the border with Lebanon.

Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs Asaad al-Shaibani decried the “military incursion” as part of an effort by Israel to advance its “expansionist and partition plans”.

The latest Israel operations follow deadly clashes in the Druze-majority Syrian province of Suwayda, where 1,400 people were killed in a week of sectarian violence in July.

Israel has since attacked Syrian troops and bombed the heart of the capital, Damascus, under the pretext of protecting the Druze people.

U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) recently awarded a contract for new rifles chambered to fire the 6.5mm Creedmoor round to Lewis Machine & Tool (LMT). The Mid-Range Gas Gun-Assault (MRGG-A) rifles will give special operators greater reach, as well as improved accuracy and terminal performance against targets at those longer ranges.

The Pentagon quietly announced the deal for the MRGG-As (sometimes also referred to as Medium-Range Gas Gun-Assault or Mid-Range Gas Gun-Assaulter rifles) in its daily contracting announcement on August 22. The contract, which covers “medium range gas gun-assault kits, spare parts and accessories, new equipment training, and engineering change proposals,” has a maximum ceiling of $92 million and runs through August 14, 2035.

LMT’s MRGG-A is a member of its Modular Ambidextrous Rifle System-Heavy (MARS-H) family, which are commonly described as AR-10-style rifles. The original Armalite AR-10 is the larger predecessor to the widely recognized AR-15/M16 pattern. Like the AR-10, as well as many AR-15/M16 variants and derivatives, all of the MARS-H versions listed on LMT’s website at the time of writing use the so-called direct impingement operating principle. This means that when the gun is fired, some of the gas that propels the bullet down the barrel is siphoned off and blown directly against the main action to cycle it. Variations on the AR-15/M16 pattern that use a physical gas piston instead are increasingly common. A piston keeps propellant gas, and the particulate matter within it, away from the gun’s action, reducing the chance of fouling and offering other maintenance and reliability advantages. These rifles are typically heavier and more expensive than their DI counterparts, though.

The MRGG-A configuration LMT has shown publicly has a 14.5″ barrel built into an upper receiver with a ‘monolithic’ Picatinny type rail for optics and other accessories that runs the full length of the top of the rifle. The sides of the handguard have additional accessory attachment points utilizing the increasingly popular M-LOK system from Magpul. The gun has ambidextrous controls and is capable of semi-automatic and fully-automatic fire.

LMT has also shown MRGG-As with scopes from Nightforce Optics, as seen in the picture at the top of this story. Back in 2021, Nightforce announced it had secured a contract from SOCOM for ATACRTM 4-20×50 F1 scopes “to augment multiple systems in the SOCOM inventory and… to support the MRGG (Mid-Range Gas Gun) once it is fielded.” In U.S. service, those optics are also referred to as Ranging-Variable Power Scopes (R-VPS).

SOCOM’s MRGG effort traces back to the late 2010s and was subsequently split into two separate subcomponents, the MRGG-A and the MRGG-S (for sniper). It has also been presented in the past as primarily intended for use within the Naval Special Warfare (NSW) community, which includes the U.S. Navy’s SEAL teams, though it is unclear if this is still the case.

In 2023, SOCOM chose a separate AR-10-esque design with a 20-inch barrel from Geissele Automatics to become the MRGG-S. The Pentagon’s contracting notice at the time noted that, despite the name, the MRGG-Ss would be used in the “sniper support weapon” and “designated marksman rifle” roles.

The 2023 video below from Geissele Automatics offers a brief overview of the company’s MRGG-S rifle.

The MRGSS-S takes “advantage of advances in ammunition and weapons technology to improve the intermediate range sniper rifle lethality, reliability and performance when suppressed during 50-1,500 meter engagements,” the Pentagon’s notice added.

The shorter-barreled MRGG-A will still offer special operators in the assault role a significant boost in capability when it comes to range and terminal effectiveness. SOCOM has said in the past that rifles chambered in 6.5mm Creedmoor, in general, could double a shooter’s probability of scoring a hit on targets up to 3,280 feet away (1,000 meters).

As a comparison, the 5.56x45mm M4A1 carbine, modified versions of which remain in use in the U.S. special operations community, has a maximum effective range of around 1,640 feet (500 meters), according to the U.S. Army. The 7.62x51mm M110, a designated marksman rifle in service across all branches of the U.S. military, as well as various U.S. federal government law enforcement agencies, can reach out to just under 2,625 feet (800 meters).

The MRGG-A is also heavier and bulkier than the M4A1. The U.S. special operations community does have a wide array of small arms options it can issue depending on the operational requirements, including if there is an expectation of close-quarters combat inside buildings or other confined spaces.

With all this in mind, SOCOM has also been looking into new light machine guns chambered in 6.5mm Creedmoor in recent years. The cartridge is seeing increasing interest elsewhere, too. In March, the U.S. Secret Service notably put out a contracting notice seeking information about potential 6.5 Creedmoor rifles to supplant its M110s.

There has been a broader drive within the U.S. military in recent years toward rifles firing larger cartridges with greater reach, as well as increased lethality at those ranges, driven heavily by combat experiences in Afghanistan during the Global War on Terror era. Concerns about improving adversary body armor had also been a factor. This is what led the U.S. Army to adopt the M7 rifle, which has been the subject of some controversy recently, as well as the companion M250 light machine gun. The M7 and M250 are chambered to fire the 6.8x51mm cartridge. Army special operations forces were involved in developmental testing of the M7 and M250, but it remains to be seen how widespread those guns might be issued within the broader special operations community.

In the meantime, U.S. special operators are now set to get new 6.5mm Creedmoor MRGG-A rifles from LMT.

Contact the author: [email protected]

Aug. 22 (UPI) — The United States government will own a 10% share of common stock in U.S. chipmaker Intel in exchange for $11 billion in already-promised federal funding.

President Donald Trump and Intel officials announced they reached an agreement on the federal stake in the California tech firm on Friday.

“It is my great honor to report that the United States of America now fully owns and controls 10% of Intel,” Trump said Friday in a Truth Social post.

He called Intel a “great American company that has an even more incredible future” and said the nation paid nothing to obtain Intel common shares valued at about $11 billion.

“This is a great deal for America and also a great deal for Intel,” Trump said. “Building leading-edge semiconductors and chips, which is what Intel does, is fundamental to the future of our nation.”

Although Trump said the federal government would not pay to obtain the 10% stake in Intel, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based tech firm indicated it will receive about $11 billion for the common stock.

The federal government will provide $5.7 billion in existing grant funds that were yet to be paid after the Biden administration previously allocated them through the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act, Intel announced on Friday.

Intel also will receive $3.2 billion that had been awarded to it via the Secure Enclave program.

Intel already received $2.2 billion in federal in CHIPS grants, making the total federal investment in it $11.1 billion.

“As the only semiconductor company that does leading-edge R&D and manufacturing in the U.S., Intel is deeply committed to ensure the world’s most advanced technologies are American-made,” Tan said.

“President Trump’s focus on U.S. chip manufacturing is driving historic investments in a vital industry that is integral to the country’s economic and national security,” he added.

“We are grateful for the confidence the president and the administration have placed in Intel,” Tan continued, “and we look forward to working to advance U.S. technology and manufacturing leadership.”

Trump earlier this week said he wanted the federal government to get a 10% stake in Intel in exchange for the money already earmarked for the tech firm.

The funds already were committed by the Biden administration, so the stake did not cost any additional money, Treasury Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Tuesday.

Intel is building a semiconductor complex in Ohio, which would help to lessen the nation’s reliance on chips produced in Taiwan and other locales.

The new Intel manufacturing facilities are scheduled to start opening in 2030 at a location near Columbus, Ohio.

MIAMI — A federal judge has put a stop to further expansion of the immigration detention center built in the Florida Everglades and dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz, ordering that its operations wind down within two months.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami wrote in her 82-page order late Thursday that Florida officials never sufficiently explained why an immigration detention center needed to be located in the middle of sensitive wetlands cherished by environmentalists and outdoors people.

She also said that state and federal authorities never undertook an environmental review as required by federal law before Florida officials hastily built the detention camp that they championed as a model for President Trump’s immigration policies. That failure adversely affected the “recreational, conservational, and aesthetic interests” of the environmental groups and Miccosukee Tribe, which brought the lawsuit, she said.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday reacted to the ruling, saying he would not be deterred by “an activist judge.”

“We knew this would be something that would likely happen,” DeSantis said at a news conference in Panama City. “We will respond accordingly. You either have a country or you don’t.”

Here’s what to know about the situation and what might come next:

What did the judge say?

Williams said she expected the population at the facility to drop within 60 days by transferring detainees to other facilities. Once that happens, fencing, lighting, gas, waste, generators and other equipment should be removed from the site. No additional detainees can be sent to the facility, and noadditional lighting, fencing, paving, buildings or tents can be added to the camp. The only repairs that can be made to the existing facility are for safety purposes. However, the judge allowed for the existing dormitories and housing to stay in place as long as they are maintained to prevent deterioration or damage.

Here’s where detainees might end up

During court hearings, lawyers said at one point there were fewer than 1,000 detainees at the facility, which state officials had planned to hold up to 3,000 people. Although the detainees could be sent to other facilities out of state, Florida has other immigration detention centers including the Krome North Processing Center in Miami, the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach and the Baker County Detention Center managed by the local sheriff’s office. Earlier this month, DeSantis announced plans for a second state-initiated immigration detention facility dubbed “Deportation Depot” at a state prison about 43 miles (69 kilometers) west of downtown Jacksonville. State officials say it is expected to hold 1,300 immigration detention beds, though that capacity could be expanded to 2,000 beds.

How does this decision impact the other “Alligator Alcatraz” lawsuit?

Civil rights lawyers had filed a second lawsuit over practices at “Alligator Alcatraz,” claiming that detainees weren’t able to meet with their attorneys privately and were denied access to immigration courts. Another federal judge in Miami dismissed part of the lawsuit earlier this week after the Trump administration designated the Krome North Processing Center as the court for their cases to be heard. The judge moved the remaining counts of the case from Florida’s southern district to the middle district. Eunice Cho, the lead attorney for the detainees, said Friday that the decision in the environmental lawsuit won’t have an impact on the civil rights case since there could be detainees at the facility for the next two months.

“Our case addresses the lack of access to counsel for people detained at Alligator Alcatraz, and there are still people detained there,” Cho said.

Status of the hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts

No one has said publicly what will happen to the hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts involved in the facility. DeSantis’ administration in July signed contracts with private vendors to pay at least $245 million to set up and run the center, according to a public database. That amount — to be fronted by Florida taxpayers — was in line with the $450 million a year officials have estimated the facility was going to cost. The governor’s office and the Florida Division of Emergency Management on Friday didn’t respond to questions about whether Florida taxpayers would still be on the hook for the contracts if the facility is shuttered.

Is this a final decision?

No. This case will continue to be litigated. The state of Florida filed a notice of appeal Thursday night, shortly after the ruling was issued. As its name suggests, a preliminary injunction is only an initial action taken by a judge to prevent harm while a lawsuit makes its way through the court process and when it appears that one side has a good chance of succeeding based on the merits of the case.

Schneider and Anderson write for the Associated Press.

Aug. 16 (UPI) — Hours after Air Canada flight attendants went on strike and the airline indefinitely paused all flights, the Canadian government intervenued Saturday and ordered operations to resume.

Jobs Minister Patty Haju ordered the company’s management and the union back to participate in binding arbitration to hash out their differences on wages and compensation. It wasn’t known when flights will resume after opereations were paused early Saturday.

“After eight months of negotiations by the parties, and after meeting with both parties last night and urging them to work hard to reach a deal, it is disappointing to have to conclude today that Air Canada and CUPE flight attendants are at an impasse and remain unable to resolve their dispute,” she said in a statement released Saturday aftetnoon Eastern time.

“The government firmly believes that the best deals are reached by the parties at the bargaining table. It has now become clear that this dispute won’t be resolved at the table. Canadians are increasingly finding themselves in very difficult situations and the strike is rapidly impacting the Canadian economy.”

She invoked Section 107 of the Canadian Labor Code, which directs the Canadian Relations Board to arbitrate the dispute.

“I am exercising this authority because it is critical to maintaining and securing industrial peace, protecting Canadians and promoting conditions to resolve the dispute,” she said. “Despite the parties’ resolution of several key differences, the CIRB is best positioned to help them find a solution on the outstanding items.”

Also, she extended the terms of the existing agreement until a new one is determined by an arbiter.

“This decision will help make sure that hundreds of thousands of Canadians and visitors to our country are not impacted because of cancelled flights,” she said. “Further, the shipments of critical goods such as pharmaceuticals and organ tissue, over 40% of which are moved by Air Canada, should continue to reach their destinations.”

The Air Canada union asked her to direct the parties to enter into binding arbitration.

But on Saturday afternoon, the union blasted the order to end the strike and posted images and video stirkers.

“Now, when we are at the bargaining table with an obstinate employer, the Liberals are violating our Charter rights to take job action and give Air Canada exactly what they want — hours and hours of unpaid labor from underpaid flight attendants, while the company pulls in sky-high profits and extraordinary executive compensation.

“This sets a terrible precedent. Contrary to the Minister’s remarks, this will not ensure labor peae at Air Canada.”

More than 130,000 travelers worldwide fly on the airline daily.

Canada’s largest airline has more than 1,000 flights, including 170 international ones, and from 50 Canadian airports. Between more than 50 U.S. airports and Canada, there are 430 daily flights.

Locked out at 1:30 a.m. EDT were 10,000 flight attendants at Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees. Air Canada Express, with regional 300 flights and operated by Jazz Aviation and PAl Airlines, is not affected.

The flight attendants went on strike at 12:58 a.m. EDT.

Picket lines had been set up at airports throughout Canada, the CBC reported.

The last negotiations were on Friday night and no new talks were scheduled.

On Wednesday, the airline served the union a statutory 72-hour lockout notice in response to the union’s 72-hour strike notice.

Air Canada was canceling flights ahead of the work stoppage.

“The carriers have since been gradually reducing their schedules of about 700 daily flights to manage the labour disruption created by CUPE’s strike notice,” the airline said. “Some 130,000 customers will be impacted each day that the suspension continues. At this time, Air Canada remains engaged and committed to negotiate a renewal to its collective agreement with CUPE.”

The airline said it “deeply regrets the labor disruption is having on customers.”

Wesley Lesosky, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees’ Air Canada component, told the CBC it is up to the airline when they would be back on flights. The airline hadn’t responded to the media site.

Air Canada Chief Operating Officer Mark Nasr earlier said after an agreement, it could take up to a week to fully restart operations.

The carrier advised people not to go to the airport if they are booked on the airline.

“Air Canada will notify customers with imminent travel of additional canceled flights and their options,” the airline said. “For those customers due to travel soon whose flights are not yet cancelled, Air Canada has put in place a goodwill policy to allow them to rebook their travel or obtain a credit for future travel.”

Compensation differences

Flight attendants want to be compensated for work before the flights take off and after they land. Typically with most airlines, they get paid only for the hours they are in the air.

The airline, in its latest offer, proposes a 38% increase in total compensation that “would have made our flight attendants the best compensated in Canada.”

The union said a proposed 8% raise in the first year is offset by inflation.

Hajdu told The Canadian Press on Friday that it is “critical” for the two sides to return to the negotiating table.

“It’s very important that we stay focused on the two parties,” Hajdu said. “They have the primary responsibility to solve this. This is a corporation and a union who have all the tools they need, as well as tools from the federal mediation service, to get this deal done.”

On Friday, the minister said she wasn’t ready to intervene in the dispute, and saw a path forward to a deal because most issues have been resolved.

The union accused her of speaking “on behalf” of the company.

“Every party has expressed support for our effort to end unpaid work, except for the governing Liberal Party,” Lesosky said during a news conference Thursday.

Hajdu posted Friday on Facebook that she met with both sides.

“It is unacceptable that such little progress has been made. Canadians are counting on both parties to put forward their best efforts.”

Travel options

The carrier advised people not to go to the airport if they are booked on the airline.

“Air Canada will notify customers with imminent travel of additional cancelled flights and their options. For those customers due to travel soon whose flights are not yet cancelled, Air Canada has put in place a goodwill policy to allow them to rebook their travel or obtain a credit for future travel,” the airline posted.

Air Canada is partnered with Star Alliance, which includes more than 20 airlines, including Lufthansa and United Airlines. Code-sharing flights might be affected.

The New York Times listed ideas for travelers.

Travelers can change flight dates and receive a one-time $50 credit per passenger or opt for an airline credit equal to the value of the ticket for one year.

Travelers are eligible for a full refund requested through the app or website. The airline said it will attempt to rebook travelers on other airlines. Canada’s second-biggest airline is WestJet Airlines, though it has many fewer international destinations.

Because of peak summer travel, options may be limited.

Keelin Pringnitz and her family were returning from a European vacation to Ottawa, but were left stranded at Heathrow Airport in London.

“It was an end of my maternity leave kind of trip,” Pringnitz told CBC. “We went to the Faroe Islands and Norway, travelling through Air Canada to London.”

She said they could fly to the United States, but no assistance once they land there.

“It didn’t go over well with the line,” she said. “Nobody really seemed interested. Everybody seemed a little bit amused almost at the suggestion, or exasperated, because it is a bit ridiculous to offer to take stranded passengers to a different country to strand them there.”

For those with travel insurance, some plans include trip cancellations, including a strike.

The U.S. Department of Transportation, which has jurisdiction over Air Canada flights that depart from the U.S., has a similar policy like the Canadian government. Refunds must be given within 30 days and rebooked if possible. There is no mandatory compensation for delays.

“For U.S. travellers, the key now is to think strategically,” Anton Radchenko, AirAdvisor’s founder, said in a statement to USA Today. “Don’t just look for the fastest alternative route; look for the most stable one. This may mean flying via smaller, less congested hubs like Detroit or Minneapolis, where rerouting is easier, or securing refundable one-stop connections through partner airlines before seats vanish.

“Keep all receipts, track your communications with the airline, and, if possible, pay with a credit card that includes trip interruption coverage. Above all, treat this strike as a high-impact event that demands proactive planning, not reactive scrambling.”

Intelligence operations years in the making were behind Israel’s targeting of key military positions and leaders in Iran this month, according to the Israeli press.

The strikes that took out much of Iran’s key defensive infrastructure and killed military commanders are credited to an Israeli intelligence service that is claimed to have infiltrated much of Iran’s security apparatus.

Inside Iran, scores of people have reportedly been arrested and accused of spying for Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, providing media support for Israel or disturbing public opinion.

Just a few days ago, the Iranian government ordered senior officials and their security teams not to use smartphones connected to the internet to avoid Israeli hacking of sensitive communications. Iranian security services, meanwhile, are understood to have asked the public to report any building they have rented to companies or individuals in the last couple of years.

Iran’s crackdown follows what has been framed as an unprecedented Israeli intelligence operation that led to its recent strikes on the country, but how extensive has the infiltration been, and how long has it been in the works?

How large a role did Israeli intelligence play in its initial strikes on Iran?

A significant one.

Shortly after Israel’s strikes on Iran, stories of the intelligence operations that preceded the “unprecedented” attack flooded the media. In interviews given by senior members of Israel’s intelligence community, details were given about how both human intelligence and AI were used in tandem to stage the attack, which they claimed hobbled much of Iran’s air defences.

On June 17, just days after the strike, The Associated Press published interviews with 10 Israeli intelligence and military officials with knowledge of the strike.

“This attack is the culmination of years of work by the Mossad to target Iran’s nuclear program,” Sima Shine, the former research director of Mossad, told the AP. The piece also detailed how Israeli agents were able to smuggle in a series of drones and missile systems into Iran, which were then used to strike numerous targets determined by a United States AI model working on data provided to it by Israeli agents within Iran, as well as information gained from previous strikes.

Are the intelligence operations ongoing?

They appear to be.

Israel claimed that the locations of two senior officers in Iran’s Quds force, Saeed Izadi and Behnam Shahryari, who were killed over the weekend, had been determined by its intelligence networks.

Earlier, on June 17, Israel was able to locate and kill one of Iran’s most senior military figures, Major-General Ali Shademani, and that was just four days after the assassination of his predecessor in a targeted air strike.

“I don’t think people realise how much audacity we have,” Israeli military intelligence specialist Miri Eisin told The Observer in the United Kingdom, noting that a target would have to entirely rid themselves of any electronic devices that could connect to the internet to avoid detection. “Most people don’t take themselves off the grid,” she said. “You can get to anybody.”

“Israel likely has around 30 to 40 cells operating inside Iran,” defence analyst Hamze Attar told Al Jazeera from Luxembourg, “with most of those made up of collaborators, rather than Israeli agents, which also makes Iran look weak,” he said, citing the assembly instructions found on the hardware seized by authorities.

“Some of those cells will be responsible for smuggling weapons from Israel, others for carrying out attacks and others for intelligence gathering,” he said.

How long has this been going on?

Israeli intelligence operations inside Iran are nothing new. According to analysts, operations designed to monitor, infiltrate, sabotage and undermine Iranian defences date back to the Iranian revolution of 1979.

Speaking in November 2024, Ali Larijani, a senior adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, acknowledged the extent of Israeli operations in Iran, telling the ISNA news agency that the “problem of infiltration had become very serious in recent years”.

“There have been some instances of negligence for years,” the former parliamentary speaker and nuclear negotiator added.

The detonation of communication devices used by the armed Lebanese group Hezbollah in September 2024 was only possible after the infiltration of the group’s supply chain by Israeli intelligence. Likewise, the assassination of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was carried out after details of his location were obtained by Israeli agents. Similar subterfuge was also used in the targeted assassination of Hamas’s political chief Ismael Haniyeh in Tehran in July 2024, when an explosive device placed in his residence weeks before was detonated.

In the last two decades, Israel has killed a number of Iran’s nuclear scientists, including Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was assassinated by a remote-controlled gun mounted on the back of a pick-up truck. Israel was also responsible for the release of the Stuxnet computer virus in 2010, which was thought to have infected 30,000 computers across at least 14 nuclear facilities in Iran.

Does Iran also spy on Israel?

Absolutely.

In late October, Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet, announced the arrest of seven Israeli citizens on suspicion of spying for Iran. A day earlier, authorities had detained another group of seven in Haifa, alleging they had assisted Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence during wartime.

At the time, Israeli police sources indicated that additional covert networks with ties to Iran may be active within the country.

If this is a covert operation, why do we know so much about it?

Because, according to analysts, publicity can also be a powerful tool in an intelligence agency’s toolkit.

Publicising the degree to which an opposing country’s security infrastructure can be infiltrated and sabotaged undermines that country’s morale while scoring points at home.

“It’s psychological warfare,” Attar said. “If I keep saying that I’ve broken into your house and you keep denying it, then I present proof of having done that, how do you look? You look weak. Israel will keep bragging about the extent of their infiltration in the hope that Iran will deny it, then they’ll provide further proof of it.”

June 19 (UPI) — The Trump administration’s border czar Tom Homan confirmed Thursday that immigration raids in U.S. agriculture and hospitality sectors of the economy will continue despite recent suggestions of a pullback.

Homan said farm, restaurant and hotel workers will be the focus of immigration enforcement operations, but people with criminal backgrounds will be the first priority.

“We’re going to continue to do worksite enforcement operations, even on farms and hotels, but based on a prioritized basis,” Homan said. “Criminals come first.”

Last week, the administration said it was considering standing down on some Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in those industries, suggesting that such enforcement actions could cripple companies that rely on the workers, which President Donald Trump acknowledged in a post on his social media account.

Trump’s pullback was largely attributed to comments by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins who said immigration enforcement measures in industries that typically employ undocumented workers could hobble their productivity.

The president’s announced pullback surprised people who take a hard line stance on immigration and have been largely supportive of Trump aggressive enforcement tactics.

Homan brought the discussion back to hiring practices Thursday while walking back the stand down on immigration enforcement operations.

“Well, first of all, there’s a right way and a wrong way to hire workers. There are legal programs that bring farm workers in,” Homan continued. “Second of all, I’ve been saying for years, Congress needs to address this. But because Congress failed, it just doesn’t mean we ignore it. It’s illegal to knowingly hire an illegal alien.”