Explore Business Standard
US Military
The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to allow the Trump administration to deploy National Guard troops in the Chicago area to support its immigration crackdown, a significant defeat for the president's efforts to send troops to US cities. The justices declined the Republican administration's emergency request to overturn a ruling by US District Judge April Perry that had blocked the deployment of troops. An appeals court also had refused to step in. The Supreme Court took more than two months to act. Three justices, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, publicly dissented. The high court order is not a final ruling, but it could affect other lawsuits challenging President Donald Trump's attempts to deploy the military in other Democratic-led cities. At this preliminary stage, the Government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois, the high court majority wrote. Justice Brett Kavanaugh said he agreed with
The US military said Monday that it had conducted another strike against a boat it said was smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing one person. In a social media post, US Southern Command said, Intelligence confirmed the low-profile vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations. Southern Command provided no evidence that the vessel was engaged in drug smuggling. A video posted by US Southern Command shows splashes of water near one side of the boat. After a second salvo, the rear of the boat catches fire. More splashes engulf the craft and the fire grows. In the final second of the video, the vessel can be seen adrift with a large patch of fire alongside it. Earlier videos of US boat strikes showed vessels suddenly exploding, suggesting missile strikes. Some strike videos even had visible rocket-like projectiles coming down on the boats. The Trump administration has said the strikes we
The US military said Thursday that it had conducted two more strikes against boats it said were smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing five people. US Southern Command posted on social media, Intelligence confirmed that the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and were engaged in narco-trafficking operations, though it did not provide evidence. It posted videos of each boat speeding through water before being struck by an explosion. The military said three people in one vessel and two in the other were killed. The attacks brought the total number of known boat strikes to 28 while at least 104 people have been killed, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration. President Donald Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and asserted the US is engaged in an armed conflict with drug cartels. The administration is facing increasing scrutiny from
References in US Coast Guard policy calling hate symbols potentially divisive" were removed Thursday, and a US senator said she was lifting a hold she had placed on a nomination for the service's top job. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose agency oversees the Coast Guard, said on social media that the latest changes were made so no one can misrepresent the branch's position. The pages of superseded and outdated policy will be completely removed from the record so no press outlet, entity or elected official may misrepresent the Coast Guard to politicize their policies and lie about their position on divisive and hate symbols, Noem said. The move appears to cap off back-and-forth revisions to Coast Guard policy on swastikas, nooses and other hate symbols, which has sparked an uproar. The Department of Homeland Security has said there was never a downgrade' in policy language. Noem's announcement came a day after Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada said she was holding u
The US military said Wednesday that it attacked a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing four people on the same day the House rejected efforts to limit President Donald Trump's power to use military force against drug cartels. US Southern Command stated on social media that the vessel was operated by narco-terrorists along a known trafficking route. The military didn't provide evidence behind the allegations but posted a video of a boat moving through water before there was an explosion. The attack brought the total number of known boat strikes to 26 while at least 99 people have been killed, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration. Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and asserted the US is engaged in an armed conflict with drug cartels. The administration is facing increasing scrutiny from lawmakers over the boat strike campaign. The first attack in early ...
The US military said Monday that it attacked three boats accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing a total of eight people as scrutiny over the boat strikes is intensifying in Congress. The military said in a statement on social media that the strikes targeted designated terrorist organisations, killing three people in the first vessel, two in the second boat and three in the third boat. It didn't provide evidence of their alleged drug trafficking but posted a video of a boat moving through water before exploding. President Donald Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and asserted the US is engaged in an armed conflict with drug cartels. But the Trump administration is facing increasing scrutiny from lawmakers over the boat strike campaign, which has killed at least 95 people in 25 known strikes since early September, including a follow-up strike that killed two survivors clinging to the ...
The House voted to pass a sweeping defence policy bill on Wednesday that authorises USD 900 billion in military programmes, including a pay raise for troops and an overhaul of how the Department of Defence buys weapons. The bill's passage comes at a time of increasing friction between the Republican-controlled Congress and President Donald Trump's administration over the management of the military. The annual National Defense Authorization Act typically gained bipartisan backing, and the White House has signalled "strong support" for the must-pass legislation, saying it is in line with Trump's national security agenda. Yet tucked into the over-3,000-page bill are several measures that push back against the Department of Defence, including a demand for more information on boat strikes in the Caribbean and support for allies in Europe, such as Ukraine. Overall, the sweeping bill calls for a 3.8 per cent pay raise for many military members as well as housing and facility improvements o
A federal judge on Friday sharply questioned the Trump administration's authority and need to maintain command of California National Guard troops it first deployed to Los Angeles in June following violent protests. At a hearing in San Francisco, US District Judge Charles Breyer suggested conditions in Los Angeles had changed since the initial deployment, and he questioned whether the administration could control state Guard troops forever under its interpretation of federal law. "No crisis lasts forever," he said. "I think experience teaches us that crises come and crises go. That's the way it works." He pressed an attorney for the government for any evidence that state authorities were either unable or unwilling to help keep federal personnel and property in the area safe and noted President Donald Trump had access to tens of thousands of active duty troops in California. California officials have asked Breyer to issue a preliminary injunction returning control of remaining ...
US Southern Command announced that it conducted another strike against a small boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean, following a pause of almost three weeks. Thursday's strike is the 22nd the US military has carried out against boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean that the Trump administration claimed were trafficking drugs. There were four casualties in Thursday's strike, according to the social media post, bringing the death toll of the campaign to at least 87 people. In a video that accompanied the announcement, a small boat can be seen moving across the water before it is suddenly consumed by a large explosion. The video then zooms out to show the boat covered in flames and billowing smoke. The strike was conducted the same day Adm. Frank "Mitch" Bradley appeared for a series of closed-door classified briefings at the US Capitol as lawmakers began an investigation into the very first strike carried out by the military on September 2. The sessions came after a repor
The Trump administration has halted all asylum decisions and paused issuing visas for people travelling on Afghan passports, seizing on the National Guard shooting in Washington to intensify efforts to rein in legal immigration. The suspect in Wednesday's shooting near the White House that killed Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and critically wounded Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, both of the West Virginia National Guard, is facing charges including first-degree murder. Investigators are seeking to find a motive for the attack. Rahmanullah Lakanwal is a 29-year-old Afghan national who worked with the CIA during the Afghanistan War. He applied for asylum during the Biden administration and was granted it this year under President Donald Trump, according to a group that assists with resettlement of Afghans who helped U.S. forces in their country. The Republican administration is promising to pause entry to the United States from some poor nations and review Afghans and other legal ...
Two West Virginia National Guard members who deployed to the nation's capital were shot Wednesday just blocks from the White House in a brazen act of violence that the mayor described as a targeted attack. FBI Director Kash Patel and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said the Guard members were hospitalised in critical condition. The presence of the National Guard in the nation's capital has been a flashpoint issue for months, fuelling a court fight and a broader public policy debate about the Trump administration's use of the military to combat what officials cast as an out-of-control crime problem. Jeffrey Carroll, an executive assistant DC police chief, said investigators had no information on a motive. He said the assailant "came around the corner" and immediately started firing at the troops, citing video reviewed by investigators. "This was a targeted shooting," Bowser said. West Virginia Gov Patrick Morrisey initially said the troops had died, but later walked back the stateme