#Russia’s ambassador to Germany, Sergey Nechayev, has emphasized the importance of thoroughly completing the investigation into the explosions of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines. He warned that failure to identify and hold accountable all those involved would set a troubling precedent for the future.

"If this crime - the explosion of Nord Stream - is not fully resolved and the perpetrators, including those who ordered it, are not identified, it could establish an undesirable precedent," Nechayev stated. He reiterated Russia’s insistence that the investigation be concluded comprehensively and transparently.

Referring to the numerous media reports speculating about private divers, Nechayev dismissed these versions as unconvincing. "We are eager to see official results of the investigation, properly documented and made public. This transparency is crucial," he stressed. He also noted that many in Germany understand the significance of this matter.

Nechayev pointed out that such developments impact broader issues, including energy cooperation with Russia. He highlighted that the ongoing uncertainty hampers efforts to restore relations, which in turn causes socio-economic harm to Germany.

Earlier, the German newspaper Die Zeit reported that investigators may have identified all the saboteurs involved in the incident. According to the publication, arrest warrants have been issued for six Ukrainian nationals. A seventh suspect, believed to have died in December 2024 during military operations in eastern Ukraine, is also linked to the case. German authorities detailed that the sabotage team comprised a skipper, a coordinator, an explosives expert, and four divers, who arrived at the Baltic Sea site aboard the yacht Andromeda from Rostock.

On September 26, 2022, the explosions caused extensive damage to three Nord Stream lines and the uncommissioned Nord Stream 2. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has stated that Moscow is convinced the attack was carried out with US support. The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has launched a case over an act of international terrorism.

Lisbon funicular cable disconnected before deadly crash: inspectors.

Inspectors investigating the deadly streetcar crash in Lisbon, Portugal, found that two cabins lost stability after the cable linking them disconnected before the funicular came off its rails and killed 16 people Wednesday, including two Canadians.

The Portuguese government’s office for air and rail accident investigations said in a preliminary technical report that the cabins had travelled not more than about six metres, when they suddenly lost the balancing force provided by the cable connecting them.

The office explained that the second cabin turned the other way around while the first cabin kept accelerating in speed despite the brakeman’s efforts to stop the car.

The second cabin then rolled to the left in the direction of travel, eventually losing control and crashing against the wall of a building.

A Quebec couple were identified as victims of the crash that also injured 21 others. Andre Bergeron and Blandine Daux were archeologists, who worked in Quebec’s Culture Department.

Portuguese police said five of the victims were from Portugal, three from the United Kingdom, two from #Canada, two from South Korea, one from the United States, one from France, one from Switzerland, and one from Ukraine.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2025.

#China criticizes Canadian and Australian warships transiting Taiwan Strait.

BEIJING, China — China’s military on Saturday said its forces had followed and warned a Canadian and an Australian warship, which were sailing through the sensitive Taiwan Strait, in a move it criticized as a provocation.

The People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theatre Command said the Canadian frigate Ville de Quebec and the Australian guided-missile destroyer Brisbane were engaged in “trouble-making and provocation.”

“The actions of the Canadians and Australians send the wrong signals and increase security risks,” it said.

A spokesperson said the Canadian armed forces do not comment on sail plans for currently deployed ships.

The spokesperson said the Ville de Quebec is deployed as part of Operation Horizon, meant to promote peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. Ville de Quebec was operating in the Philippine economic zone earlier this week, participating in freedom of navigation exercises, according to a Canadian government statement.

There was no immediate response to a request for comment from the Australian armed forces.

Taiwan’s defense ministry said in a statement that it keeps a close watch on activity in the strait and “dispatches appropriate air and naval forces to ensure the security and stability” of the waterway, which separates Communist China from the democratic island of Taiwan.

The U.S. Navy and, on occasion, ships from allied countries including Canada, Britain and France transit the strait, which they consider an international waterway, around once a month. Taiwan also considers it an international waterway.

China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, says the strategic waterway is part of its territorial waters. Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s territorial claims.

China has over the past five years increased its military pressure on the island, including staging war games nearby.

(Reporting by Ryan Woo; Additional reporting by James Pomfret in Hong Kong, Ben Blanchard in Taipei and Anna Mehler Paperny in Toronto; Editing by Tom Hogue, Sharon Singleton and Edmund Klamann)

U.S. tech titans pay homage to #Trump at White House dinner.

Tech world executives showered U.S. President Donald Trump with praise Thursday during a rare dinner that saw the U.S. president host some of the most important players in AI at the White House.

“This is quite a group to get together,” said Meta chief and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, who was seated at Trump’s right side.

At the table were heads of major tech companies including Google-parent Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft and artificial intelligence star OpenAI.

Some of those at the dinner had attended Trump’s inauguration, signaling they were ready to fall in line with the 79-year-old president’s world view -- or at least seek to avoid his ire.

Notably absent from the dinner was multi-billionaire tech tycoon Elon Musk, a former #Trump ally who had a spectacular falling out with the president.

The chief of Tesla and SpaceX put out word in a post on his X social network that he had been invited to the dinner but couldn’t attend, sending someone to represent him.

Companies at the dinner were making huge investments in U.S. data centers and infrastructure to “power the next wave of innovation”, Zuckerberg said.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook voiced thanks for Trump “setting the tone” for the companies to make major investments in U.S. manufacturing.

Trump recently threatened trade sanctions against countries that apply regulations to US tech companies, aiming particularly at the European Union.

“Thank you for being such a pro-business, pro-innovation president,” said OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman.

“It’s a refreshing change.”

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, seated next to First Lady Melania Trump, was less effusive, calling for artificial intelligence to be used to promote international development.

“It’s great we all get together and talk about how the United States could lead in this key area and apply it even to the poorest outside the US, as well as to our great citizens,” said the Microsoft legend turned philanthropist.

Gates cited Operation Warp Speed, Trump’s first term initiative which saw the rapid development of Covid-19 vaccines, as an example of America’s capacity for innovation.

Since taking office in January, Trump has cut international aid and ended investments in the kinds of vaccines deployed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Silicon Valley leaders who did not support Trump during his first term in office changed course with his return to office.

Many have visited the White House to promise heavy investment in the United States, and some have been quick to follow the US president’s lead in ending diversity promotion programs and initiatives to combat online misinformation.

UN probe suggests war crimes by all sides in DR Congo conflict. Rwanda-backed M23 militia and the Congolese military and its affiliates have all committed gross rights violations in eastern DR Congo, UN investigators said Friday, warning of possible war crimes and crimes against humanity.

A United Nations fact-finding mission on the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s North and South Kivu provinces determined in a report that all sides in the devastating conflict had committed abuses since late 2024, including summary executions and rampant sexual violence.

The findings “underscore the gravity and widespread nature of violations and abuses committed by all parties to the conflict, including acts that may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity,” the report said.

The eastern DRC, a region bordering Rwanda with abundant natural resources but plagued by non-state armed groups, has suffered extreme violence for more than three decades.

Since taking up arms again at the end of 2021, the M23 armed group has seized swathes of land in the restive region with Rwanda’s backing, triggering a spiralling humanitarian crisis.

A fresh surge of unrest broke out early this year when the M23 captured the key cities of Goma and Bukavu, setting up their own administrations.

The Congolese and Rwandan governments signed a peace deal in June, and the Congolese government signed a separate declaration of principles with the #M23 in July, including a “permanent ceasefire” aimed at halting the conflict.

Rampant sexual violence

“With new reports of violations continuing, both the Congolese and Rwandan governments must take urgent actions to ensure strict respect for international law by their own national forces and affiliated armed groups, while ceasing to support the latter,” the report said.

The fact-finding mission (FFM), established by the UN Human Rights Council in February, said it had documented the failure of all parties to adequately protect civilians, especially during the takeover of Goma, as well as attacks on schools and hospitals.

The M23, after capturing territories, “engaged in a campaign of intimidation and violent repression through a pattern of summary executions, torture and other forms of ill-treatment”, the report said.

It also decried forced recruitment, including of children, as well as “widespread” sexual violence.

The FFM said it had “reasonable grounds to believe that M23 members may have committed... the crimes against humanity of murder, severe deprivation of liberty, torture, rape and sexual slavery”.

It faulted Rwanda not only for backing the M23 but found its armed forces had directly committed violations on DRC territory, and noted “credible allegations concerning the covert presence of RDF personnel within M23”.

Child soldiers

The investigators also documented grave violations committed by the DRC armed forces and affiliated armed groups, like the Wazalendo.

The FFM, among other things, documented “deliberate killings of civilians” by the DRC military after in-fighting with the Wazalendo.

And it identified “a pattern of widespread use of sexual violence and looting” by members of the armed forces and of Wazalendo during the retreat from the front lines in January and February.

It also determined that Wazalendo fighters recruited children under the age of 15, including for use in combat, with girls also “used for sexual purposes”.

“The atrocities described in this report are horrific,” UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement.

“It is imperative to promptly and independently investigate all allegations of violations with a view to ensuring accountability and victims’ right to truth, justice and reparations, especially guarantees of non-repetition.”

The FFM’s work will conclude once it presents its findings to the Human Rights Council, which kicks off its final session of the year next week.

In February, the council had ordered the creation of a commission of inquiry (COI) -- the highest investigation in its armoury -- to carry on the probe once the FFM winds up, but funding cuts across the UN system have delayed its establishment.

Turk stressed Friday that the swift creation of the COI “to continue this vital work is essential”.

Chaotic showdown over Guatemalan children exposes fault lines in Trump’s deportation push.


HARLINGEN, Texas — Laura Peña knew she had two hours to stop the children she represents from being deported home to Guatemala. She and other lawyers and advocates around the country were just starting to get word that Saturday night of Labour Day weekend that migrant children had just been woken up and were heading to the airport.

Hours of confusion ensued, including a frantic phone call to a judge at 2:36 a.m. It was remarkably similar to a chaotic March weekend when the Trump administration deported hundreds of Venezuelans to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador despite frantic attempts by attorneys and an intervention by a judge who came to court on a Saturday night in civilian dress.

This time, the attorneys managed to block the flights, at least for two weeks, but the episode has raised questions about how truthful the administration was in its initial accounts.

A Guatemalan government report obtained by The Associated Press from a U.S.-based human rights group says 50 of 115 families contacted by investigators said they wanted their children to stay in the U.S., undermining a key Trump administration claim that they wanted their children back in Guatemala. Another 59 families wouldn’t allow government teams in their homes, believing that refusing to co-operate would make it more likely their children could remain in the U.S., according to the report.

Many questions remain, including a full rundown of how old the children were and how many the administration planned to remove that night.

While some answers may emerge in court, a reconstruction of the rapid-fire events, based on interviews and government documents, illuminates the latest clash between the administration’s desire for mass deportations and longstanding legal protections for migrants.
Children told to pack a bag

Weeks of quiet planning led to at least 76 children boarding planes at Texas airports in Harlingen and El Paso.

Peña, who represents migrant children at the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project, kissed her three-month-old goodbye and raced to a shelter. While driving, she got calls about children in other shelters being loaded onto buses.

Children were in the lobby with packed bags when she arrived, including one boy who was “almost catatonic,” terrified he would be murdered like a relative back home if he was returned, Peña said.

Three teens living with foster families in the Dallas area got a four-hour notice, said Jennifer Anzardo Valdes, director of children’s legal services at the International Rescue Committee, which represents them. “They all spoke about how they were woken up in the middle of the night and told to pack a bag,” she said.
A judge is jolted awake in the middle of the night

U.S. District Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan of Washington was jolted awake at 2:36 a.m. with an emergency request to stop the flights. The judge said in court Sunday that she left a voicemail for a Justice Department lawyer at 3:33 a.m. She ordered a halt to the deportations at 4:22 a.m.

“I have the government attempting to remove unaccompanied minors from the country in the wee hours of the morning on a holiday weekend, which is surprising,” said Sooknanan, who was appointed during the final weeks of Joe Biden’s presidency. “Absent action by the courts all of those children would have been returned to Guatemala, potentially to very dangerous situations.”

Drew Ensign, a Justice Department attorney, said it was possible that one plane had taken off but returned before the children were deported.

The Trump administration argued that it acted at Guatemala’s behest. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller accused the judge of “effectively kidnapping these migrant children and refusing to let them return home to their parents in their home country.”

The Guatemalan government report about the children’s families raises serious questions about the administration’s version of events.

One family said if their daughter was returned to Guatemala they would do everything to get her out because her life was threatened, according to the report.

Lucrecia Prera, Guatemala’s child advocate who prepared the report that raises questions about the Trump administration’s claims, told the AP that many families suspected her office was pushing for their children to be returned.

“We want to clarify that we are respectful of and unconnected to the process happening in the United States,” she said. “They are Guatemalan children and our obligation is to protect them.”

The children were led off the planes after hours on the tarmac and returned to their shelters.
A 2008 law requires children appear before an immigration judge

Children began crossing the border alone in large numbers in 2014, peaking at 152,060 in the 2022 fiscal year. July’s arrest tally translates to an annual clip of 5,712 arrests, reflecting how illegal crossings have dropped to their lowest levels in six decades.

Guatemalans accounted for 32 per cent of residents at government-run holding facilities last year, followed by Hondurans, Mexicans and El Salvadorans. A 2008 law requires children to appear before an immigration judge with an opportunity to pursue asylum, unless they are from Canada and Mexico. The vast majority are released from shelters to parents, legal guardians or immediate family while their cases wind through court.

It is unclear how many children who boarded at Texas airports in Harlingen and El Paso over Labour Day weekend — as well as any who were on the way — were allowed their day in court as required by the 2008 law. Lawyers for many of the Guatemalan children in the shelter system have said they still have active cases they want to pursue so they can stay in the U.S.

The Labour Day weekend drama can be traced to July, when Guatemala’s immigration chief said the government planned to bring back 341 children from shelters overseen by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department. They were nearing 18 and Guatemala didn’t want them transferred to immigration detention centres for adults.

But attorneys representing Guatemalan clients said the administration targeted kids young enough to be in elementary school on Sunday and either woke them up from shelters or placed them on a bus heading to the airport, countering the claim that only those close to aging out were targeted.

Valdes, of the International Rescue Committee, said some girls, all teenagers, were on a bus for hours, never actually making it to an airport and eventually being returned to a south Texas shelter.
Lawyers sensed something was afoot heading into the holiday weekend

“We started hearing from legal service providers about strange calls they’d received from some Guatemalan children’s parents or relatives in Guatemala who were told by Guatemalan officials that their children were going to be deported from the U.S.,” said Shaina Aber, executive director of the Acacia Center for Justice.

The children were still in immigration court proceedings, said Aber, whose group runs a network of legal services providers. Guatemalan consulates told lawyers for their children that they made the calls at the request of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, she said.

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, said Friday that as many as 700 Guatemalan children could be sent home. Lawyers who checked electronic court dockets found that future court dates had disappeared.

At the Guatemalan airport Sunday, families prepared for their children’s return. Leslie Lima, from San Marcos in western Guatemala, came to see her 17-year-old son Gabriel four months after he left home and was detained after crossing the border near El Paso. Since the imminent return of the minors was publicized last week, Lima had been worried about Gabriel.

“We will receive him here, but I hope that he can stay (in the U.S.) and accomplish his dreams,” she said.

Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo has said his administration told the U.S. that they’re willing to receive “all unaccompanied minors, who wanted to return to Guatemala voluntarily” and would welcome anyone who is ordered to leave the U.S.

The judge’s order blocking deportation of any Guatemalan children who don’t have final orders of removal expires in 14 days.

Children’s advocates and lawyers believe the chaos isn’t over.

___

Santana reported from #Washington and Perez reported from Guatemala City. Elliot Spagat contributed from San Diego.

Rebecca Santana, Valerie Gonzalez And Sonia Pérez D., The Associated Press

Elon Musk says he was invited to White House reception but will not attend.


Billionaire and onetime top White House advisor Elon Musk said he was invited to a tech leader summit at the White House’s newly renovated Rose Garden on Thursday, but will not be attending.

“I was invited, but unfortunately could not attend. A representative of mine will be there,” Musk said on Thursday, replying to an X user who asked why the xAI, SpaceX and Tesla leader was not invited.

The guest list for Thursday’s event includes Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, according to a White House official.

The fact that Musk was invited could be a sign that the relationship between Musk and the White House is thawing. Once referred to as “the first buddy,” and near constant presence at President Donald Trump’s side, Musk had a messy blowup with the president this summer after leaving his position at the Department of Government Efficiency. Musk even vowed to support primary challengers of Republicans who voted for Trump’s signature funding bill, and he claimed he would be starting a new political party, although there does not seem to have been any movement on that front.

The White House did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

In recent days, public comments from Trump and Vice President JD Vance seem to suggest Musk would be welcomed back into the fold.

Speaking to CNN contributor Scott Jennings on his podcast this week, Trump said Musk is “a man of common sense,” a “good man,” even though he “got off the reservation incorrectly.”

“He’s got 80% super genius and then 20% he’s got some problems. When he works out the 20%, he’ll be great,” Trump said. “I liked him… I like him now.”

In an interview last month with far-right outlet Gateway Pundit, Vance called Musk’s relationship with the Trump White House “complicated.” But he said he expects and hopes Musk will support the Republican Party by next November’s midterm elections.

“My argument to Elon is like, you’re not going to be on the left, even if you wanted to be — and he doesn’t — they’re not going to have your back. That ship has sailed. So I really think it’s a mistake for him to try to break from the president,” Vance said.

Musk has backed off attacking the administration on X and, in some cases, appears to be fully supporting the White House. Last month, he replied with a fire emoji and a laughing emoji to a post from White House communications adviser Margo Martin, who captioned a photo: “President @realDonaldTrump showing President Zelenskyy and President Macron his 4 More Years hat.”

The White House invitation could also be a lesson in history: Musk was famously not invited to a White House summit on electric vehicles in 2021 during President Joe Biden’s administration. (Part of the reason appeared to be because Tesla is a nonunion automaker.) Musk has been vocal about how much he continues to be upset over the snub.

On Thursday, he reposted a 2023 interview where he said Biden “added insult to injury” and hurt the company by claiming at the event that General Motors was “leading the electric car revolution” while Tesla made far more EV cars.

Musk reposted the 2023 video with the comment: “I try not to start fights, but I do finish them.”

CNN’s Samantha Waldenberg contributed to this report.

Report calls on #NATO to counter authoritarian manipulation, disinformation.


The report, released by the Montreal Institute for Global Security and Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Canada, warns that China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are working to expand their strategic influence and reshape global norms.

Their shared objectives include undermining U.S. leadership, discrediting western alliances — NATO in particular — and framing the West as hypocritical and neocolonial, the report says.

“Recognizing the scope of the threat is no longer enough,” says the report Wired for War: How Authoritarian States are Weaponizing AI Against the West. “The authoritarian playbook is clear, and so too must be the democratic response.”

Autocratic states are asserting power in the information domain by using a mix of overt state-controlled media and covert or unaffiliated channels to spread disinformation, the report’s authors say.

Emerging technologies — particularly artificial intelligence, deepfakes, bots and algorithmic amplification — are accelerating the scope and scale of foreign information manipulation and interference operations, they say.

“These operations are designed to appear organic and target diverse audiences across platforms such as X, Facebook, Telegram, YouTube, and TikTok,” the report says.

“Techniques include using videos, articles, memes, and AI-generated content, often masked through ‘information laundering’ to obscure their origins.”

While the United States’ current political commitment to NATO is fluctuating, other member states are stepping up by increasing their defence spending to 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product, the report notes.

“These new resources must not be directed solely at tanks, missiles, drones and troops. They must also be invested in the fight to secure our information environments, counter digital authoritarianism, and build digital resilience,” it says.

“NATO remains the most powerful collective instrument available to liberal democracies. It is time to wield that instrument with clarity and courage. Information warfare is warfare — our response must reflect that truth. Democratic governments must now act with urgency and strategic intent.”

NATO already has established an overarching strategy on emerging and disruptive technologies, with the aim of minimizing rogue interference and protecting against the adversarial use of AI, the report adds.

But it also cautions the alliance must not be left to wage this fight alone.

Western democracies should lead in confronting the information threat “with urgency and resolve,” the report says.

It underscores the central role the United States has long played in countering information warfare and advancing democratic and digital resilience globally.

“Through sustained funding, institutional leadership, and diplomatic co-ordination, it helped anchor a collective response to authoritarian influence operations,” the report says.

“Today, however, that leadership has largely receded. Key American programs and institutions dedicated to this fight have been defunded, dismantled, or deprioritized, leaving a dangerous vacuum.”

In this context, western democracies and their allies must step up, forge stronger partnerships and invest in shared strategic capacity to confront the growing threat, the authors argue.

“We have moved beyond a point where countering disinformation solely through content-level interventions like fact-checking is sufficient,” the report says.

“Instead, the priority must shift to addressing the underlying structures and systems that enable the creation and spread of disinformation.”

That work should include investing in news media, the authors say.

They point out that while authoritarian states like China, Russia and Iran are spending heavily on state-backed international media to influence audiences abroad, public broadcasters in democracies — such as Radio Free Europe, Voice of America and Radio Canada International — have endured significant funding cuts for years.

“The era of passive observation is over. If democracies are to withstand and ultimately overcome the growing axis of autocracy, they must meet this challenge with the seriousness, resources, and co-ordination it demands,” the report says.

“The stakes are no less than the integrity of our institutions, the resilience of our alliances, and the survival of the democratic idea itself.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 4, 2025.

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press

Trump suggests National Guard could go into New Orleans, a blue city in a red state.

Trump has already said he plans to send the National Guard into Chicago and Baltimore following his administration deploying troops and federal agents to patrol the streets of Washington, D.C., last month.

“So we’re making a determination now,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office during a meeting with Polish President Karol Nawrocki. “Do we go to Chicago? Do we go to a place like New Orleans, where we have a great governor, Jeff Landry, who wants us to come in and straighten out a very nice section of this country that’s become quite, you know, quite tough, quite bad.”

Trump now frequently boasts about turning Washington into a “safe zone.” The White House reports more than 1,760 arrests citywide since the president first announced he was mobilizing federal forces on Aug. 7.

But Washington is a federal district subject to laws giving Trump power to take over the local police force for up to 30 days. The decision to use troops to attempt to quell crime in other Democratic-controlled cities around the country would represent an important escalation.

“So we’re going to be going to maybe Louisiana, and you have New Orleans, which has a crime problem. We’ll straighten that out in about two weeks,” Trump said. “It’ll take us two weeks, easier than D.C.”

Trump’s latest comments came a day after he declared “We’re going in” and suggested that the National Guard might soon be headed for Chicago, the nation’s third-largest city, and Baltimore. That’s despite state and local officials, as well as many residents, both places staunchly opposing the idea.

But New Orleans is a predominately Democratic-leaning city in a red state run by Landry, a Republican -- and reflection of Trump floating federal intervention along ideological lines.

“Crime is down in New Orleans,” City Councilmember Oliver Thomas, who is also a mayoral candidate, said via text message. “That would seem to be very political or a major overreaction!”

Councilmember Jean-Paul Morrell said it is “ridiculous to consider sending the National Guard into another American city that hasn’t asked for it.”

“Guardsmen are not trained law enforcement. They can’t solve crimes, they can’t interview witnesses and they aren’t trained to constitutionally police,” Morrell said in a statement. “NOPD is doing a great job with the existing resources they have. Marching troops into New Orleans is an unnecessary show of force in effort to create a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.”

Landry, though, posted on social media, “We will take President @realDonaldTrump’s help from New Orleans to Shreveport!” while House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, whose district includes the conservative suburbs outside of New Orleans, praised Trump’s efforts in Washington.

“The citizens of New Orleans, and the millions of tourists who come here, deserve that same level of security,” Scalise wrote in a social media post. “We should all be in favor of increased safety for our citizens and lower crime.”

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement that people “continue to die in New Orleans because ‘leaders’ refuse to accept the resources that are available to them.”

“If your gut reaction is to reject the President’s offer for assistance without condition, perhaps you’re the problem - not him,” Murill said.

The City of New Orleans struck a more conciliatory tone, staying in a statement, “our federal and state partnerships have played a significant role in ensuring public safety, particularly during special events” and that local officials “remain committed to sustaining this momentum.” New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell was indicted last month on federal fraud charges and is set to be arraigned in the coming weeks.

Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly railed against Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker for not requesting that the National Guard be deployed.

“We could straighten out Chicago. All they have to do is ask us to go into Chicago. If we don’t have the support of some of these politicians, but I’ll tell you who is supporting us, the people of Chicago,” Trump said Wednesday.

Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have been adamant in saying Chicago doesn’t need or want military intervention. In Baltimore, Mayor Brandon Scott and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore have remained similarly opposed.

In Washington, Mayor Muriel Bowser has said Trump’s decision to take over her city’s police force and flood streets with hundreds of federal law enforcement agents and National Guard troops has succeeded in reducing violent crime -- but she’s also argued that similar results could have been achieved simply by having more city police officers in service.

She said Wednesday that Trump’s law enforcement powers in the city don’t need to be extended beyond 30 days, saying, “We don’t need a presidential emergency.”

Will Weissert, The Associated Press

Associated Press writer Jack Brook in New Orleans contributed to this report.

Australia agrees to pay Pacific nation of Nauru US$1.62 billion to house deportees.

Australia has agreed to pay the tiny Pacific nation of Nauru A$2.5 billion (US$1.62 billion) over three decades to host deported non-citizens, with accommodation for the first deportees already prepared, Australian officials said on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left government is expected to pass a law on Thursday making it easier to deport non-citizens to third countries, reviving criticism from human rights groups that it was “dumping” refugees in small island states and drawing comparisons with U.S. President Donald Trump‘s immigration policies.

Australia signed a deal last Friday with Nauru to resettle people who have been denied refugee visas because of criminal convictions. The United States is seeking Pacific Island nations willing to accept deported non-citizens.

The planned new law removes procedural fairness when Australia deports a non-citizen to a third country and is designed to limit court appeals, the government said. It is expected to pass in parliament after the conservative opposition Liberal Party said it would support the move.

Australia will pay Nauru an upfront A$400 million to establish an endowment fund for the resettlement scheme, plus A$70 million annually for the 30-year life of the agreement, Australian officials told a parliamentary committee.

The funds can be clawed back by Australia if Nauru decides not to accept as many deportees as expected, the home affairs officials added.

Nauru was already involved in Australia’s policies on immigration: two-thirds of its revenue last year, or A$200 million ($129.96 million), came from hosting an Australian-funded processing center for asylum seekers.

Under a decade-old policy to discourage people smuggling, Australia sends asylum seekers who arrive by boat to offshore detention centers to have refugee claims assessed, denying them Australian visas. The practice has been criticized by the United Nations Human Rights Committee.

Nauru, which has a population of 12,000 and a land area of just 21 square km (eight square miles), is reliant on foreign aid, and faces a 2025 deadline to repay Taiwan A$43 million ($27.94 million) after switching diplomatic ties to Beijing, according to budget documents.
New scheme covers different group

The new Nauru resettlement scheme will cover a different group, whose visas were canceled by Australia because they served prison sentences or were refused visas on character grounds, and cannot return to countries including Iran, Myanmar and Iraq because of the risk of persecution.

Australia’s High Court ruled in 2023 that indefinite immigration detention was unlawful, resulting in around 350 non-citizens being released into the community, with a third subject to electronic monitoring.

One of this group, a 65-year-old Iraqi man, lost a High Court appeal against deportation to Nauru on Wednesday.

Australia will apply to Nauru for visas for the non-citizens “on a rolling basis commencing fairly soon,” the official told a parliamentary committee.

When a visa is approved by Nauru, the individual will be detained in Australia to prepare for deportation, she added.

The president of the Law Council of Australia, Juliana Warner, said on Wednesday the deportation law was “troubling” because it could put those sent to Nauru at risk of not receiving necessary healthcare, and is being rushed through parliament without adequate public scrutiny.

Several independent lawmakers said they were concerned it could be applied more widely than the 350 released by the High Court decision, with up to 80,000 people in the community without a visa.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke declined to comment on the 80,000 figure, and has said the law change is needed to maintain the integrity of the migration system.

The move was “absolutely Trump-like,” said Jana Favero, the deputy chief executive of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.

Independent lawmaker Monique Ryan told parliament that Australia was “using a small island nation as a dumping ground.”

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney. Editing by Michael Perry and Frances Kerry)