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Immigrant advocates and civil rights lawyers say evidence is mounting that immigration agents carrying out the Trump administration's deportation crackdown in southern California are engaging in widespread racial profiling.

They've raided known hubs for Latino workers almost daily – hardware store parking lots, car washes, and street vendor corners. Videos of many of those operations, filmed by bystanders and posted to social media, have shown agents arresting people who appear to be Latino as they stand on sidewalks or wait at bus stops.

On Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union and other legal groups filed a federal class action lawsuit alleging that immigration agents roving the streets are targeting people based on the color of their skin or their apparent occupation. They want a judge to declare the raids unconstitutional.

Fish or bird ownership showed no significant link to slower cognitive decline in study with implications for ageing societies

As global population ages and dementia rates climb, scientists may have found an unexpected ally in the fight against cognitive decline.

Cats and dogs may be exercising more than just your patience: they could be keeping parts of your brain ticking over too. In a potential breakthrough for preventive health, researchers have found that owning a four-pawed friend is linked to slower cognitive decline by potentially preserving specific brain functions as we grow older.

Interestingly, the associations differ depending on the animal: dog owners were found to retain sharper memory, both immediate and delayed, while cat owners showed slower decline in verbal fluency.

The U.S. Air Force has suspended plans it had proposed with Elon Musk's SpaceX to test hypersonic rocket cargo deliveries from a remote Pacific atoll, according to a report this week in Stars and Stripes, an independent publication of the U.S. military.

The suspension came after Reuters reported that biologists and experts said the project would harm many seabirds that nest at the wildlife refuge on the Johnston Atoll, an unincorporated U.S. territory nearly 800 miles (1,300 km) southwest of Hawaii.

The Air Force had said it would undertake an environmental assessment of the project, but publication of a draft assessment was delayed after opposition to the plan by environmental groups.

Some hospitals in the U.S. are without essential staff because international doctors who were set to start their medical training this week were delayed by the Trump administration’s travel and visa restrictions.

It’s unclear exactly how many foreign medical residents were unable to start their assignments, but six medical residents interviewed by The Associated Press say they’ve undergone years of training and work only to be stopped at the finish line by what is usually a procedural step.

“I don’t want to give up,” said a permanent Canadian resident who matched to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Harrisburg but had her visa denied because she is a citizen of Afghanistan. She requested to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal. “But the situation also seems so helpless.”

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he is willing to let migrant laborers stay in the United States if the farmers they work for will vouch for them.

At a campaign-style speech at the Iowa state fairgrounds, Trump said he is working with the Homeland Security Department to help farmers who depend on migrant laborers for their seasonal needs. He said he will also work with the hotel industry on the issue.

The first group of immigrants has arrived at a new detention center deep in the Florida Everglades that officials have dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” a spokesperson for Republican state Attorney General James Uthmeier told The Associated Press.

“People are there,” Press Secretary Jae Williams said, though he didn’t immediately provide further details on the number of detainees or when they arrived.

“Next stop: back to where they came from,” Uthmeier said on the X social media platform Wednesday. He’s been credited as the architect behind the Everglades proposal.

“Stood up in record time under @GovRonDeSantis ’ leadership & in coordination with @DHSgov & @ICEgov, Florida is proud to help facilitate @realDonaldTrump ’s mission to enforce immigration law,” the account for the Florida Division of Emergency Management posted to the social media site X on Thursday. Requests for additional information from the office of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and FDEM, which is building the site, were not returned early Thursday afternoon.

The facility, at an airport used for training, will have an initial capacity of about 3,000 detainees, DeSantis said. The center was built in eight days and features more than 200 security cameras, 28,000-plus feet (8,500 meters) of barbed wire and 400 security personnel

The emails say nearly 9 in 10 Social Security beneficiaries won't pay income taxes on their benefits in the future. But the Trump tax law did not directly address Social Security.

The Social Security Administration has sent a misleading email to beneficiaries stating that Donald Trump’s sweeping tax cuts and spending law eliminates taxes on Social Security benefits for most recipients.

“The bill ensures that nearly 90% of Social Security beneficiaries will no longer pay federal income taxes on their benefits, providing meaningful and immediate relief to seniors who have spent a lifetime contributing to our nation’s economy,” said the email, which multiple beneficiaries shared with NBC News.

“This email went to every Social Security subscriber and every word of it is a lie. Social Security benefits are still taxed. This big, ugly bill doesn’t change that,” New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, wrote on X. “It’s disturbing to see Trump hijack a public institution to push blatant misinformation.”

For weeks in the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the mother has watched her 6-year-old son's health decline, Mukherjee said. He recently underwent chemotherapy treatment for leukemia and because of his arrest missed his check-in doctor’s appointment, Mukherjee said.

“He’s easily bruising. He has bone pain. He looks pale," Mukherjee said, adding that he has also lost his appetite. "His mom is terrified that these are symptoms that his leukemia situation might be deteriorating.”

. . . During the family's hearing, the mother tried to tell the judge that they wished to continue their cases for asylum, Mukherjee said. Homeland Security moved to dismiss their cases, and the judge immediately granted that motion.

When they stepped out of the courtroom, they found men in civilian clothing believed to be ICE agents who arrested the family, Mukherjee said. They spent about 11 hours at an immigrant processing center in Los Angeles and were each only given an apple, a small packet of cookies, a juice box and water.

The first American academics fleeing Donald Trump's America for France have arrived.

Aix-Marseille University last week introduced eight U.S.-based researchers who were in the final stage of joining the institution's “Safe Place for Science" program, which aims to woo researchers who have experienced or fear funding cuts under the Trump administration. AMU offers the promise of a brighter future in the sun-drenched Mediterranean port city.

While both France and the European Union have launched multimillion-euro plans to woo researchers across the pond since Trump assumed the U.S. presidency in January, AMU's initiative was the first of its kind in the country — meaning the eight researchers who were welcomed are the first academic refugees planning to trade the United States for France.

Authorities reported that at least 20 girls were missing from Camp Mystic, a summer camp for girls along the Guadalupe River, after “catastrophic” flooding overnight.

Disaster declarations have been issued for parts of central Texas after heavy rains produced “a catastrophic flooding event” and killed an as yet unconfirmed number of people.

The National Weather Service issued multiple flash flood warnings followed by a flash flood emergency early on Friday morning for Gillespie and Mason counties, after more than a foot of rainfall fell in just a few hours in the hill country west of Austin.

The local news outlet KXAN warned that “life-threatening flooding is imminent or occurring. Leave low-lying or flood-prone areas immediately, but do not drive over water-covered roads.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/32477572

The use of chloropicrin gas is a grave violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which Russia signed on January 13, 1993, and ratified on November 5, 1997.

Putin does NOT deserve a seat at any table and should be completely isolated. When will Trump get this?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/hegseth-halted-weapons-for-ukraine-despite-military-analysis-that-the-aid-wouldn-t-jeopardize-us-readiness/ar-AA1HXER2

Hegseth halted weapons for Ukraine this week amid concern about the U.S. military’s stockpiles despite military analysis that the aid wouldn’t jeopardize U.S. readiness (claims by top military officials).

President Trump has announced that an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bout will be held on the grounds of the White House next year, one of many events to be held to celebrate America's 250th birthday.