ICE launches California immigration crackdown. Newsom calls it ‘campaign of fear’ By Darrell Smith October 8, 2026 12:20 PM
The Trump administration is launching waves of ICE immigration operations across California over the next 45 days, the Washington Examiner reported this week.
Gov. Gavin Newsom blasted the statewide raids weeks before November’s midterm elections as a “campaign of fear.” Dubbed internally as “Operation Safe California,” the Examiner reported, the enforcement began several days ago in the San Diego area, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials ordering its field agents to arrest all immigrants they meet, criminal history or not.
The operation has not been publicly announced, but was met with fiery reaction from Newsom. He accused the White House of stoking fear in the state’s immigrant communities as millions of Californians prepare to head to the polls.
According to the Examinet, an unnamed source told the newspaper that ICE officers were “told to go after anybody, they can pick up anybody.”
Immigrant rights groups in Northern and Central California have reported increased sightings of ICE activity. On Monday, a father was arrested at a Santa Maria community college while dropping off his daughter for her freshman year. “This is exactly what I warned would happen last year. Trump is using mass deportations to TERRORIZE diverse communities out of legally voting — ordering his secret police to ‘go after everybody,’” Newsom posted on X, in apparent reference to the government crackdown. “Donald, your campaign of fear will FAIL. The American people will NOT be intimidated!”
Sources told the Examiner that officers in San Diego, and others in Los Angeles and San Francisco, would move through Los Angeles and north to San Francisco by November. The Sacramento group NorCal Resist earlier Thursday cited a “heavier than normal ICE presence in our region today,” in posts to social media.
“To understand the world, you must first understand a place like Mississippi”
William Faulkner, Novelist About this Quote Faulkner doesn’t offer Mississippi as a postcard; he offers it as a wound you can read. The line flatters the local while quietly indicting it: if you want to grasp “the world,” start with a place where history is so concentrated it feels radioactive. Mississippi becomes his test case for modernity’s contradictions – beauty yoked to brutality, intimacy bound up with violence, community built on exclusion.
The specific intent is polemical in a novelist’s key. Faulkner is defending the value of the provincial against the cosmopolitan shrug: you don’t learn humanity by escaping “backward” places, you learn it by staring at them until they stop being caricatures. The subtext is harsher. Mississippi isn’t merely representative; it’s exemplary in the way a crime scene is exemplary. It’s where the American myths of honor, piety, and progress are most nakedly at war with slavery’s afterlife, with caste, with the politics of forgetting.
Context matters because Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha County – his fictionalized Mississippi – is basically a world system in miniature. He writes in the long shadow of Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the Lost Cause narrative machine, with the South performing innocence while living off stolen labor and inherited violence. The line works because it’s both invitation and dare: if you can understand how a society rationalizes what it can’t justify, how it turns trauma into tradition, you’re already most of the way toward understanding everywhere else.”
Quote Details Topic Wisdom
Ongoing, the case of Nolan Wells, symbolic of “White Comfort over Black Lives” as grieving mother rebuked those who had shown no interest in pursuing how her son had died in mysterious circumstances. It was said he had drowned but autopsy showed no water in his lungs.
Nolan Wells’ autopsy found no water in lungs; data was deleted from his phone the day he disappeared, experts say
CSIS estimated, as reported by RFE/RL, that U.S. Patriot PAC-3 MSE stocks fell from more than 2,300 before the Iran conflict began in February to roughly 800.
The Pentagon’s January framework aims to raise annual PAC-3 MSE output from about 600 to 2,000; analysts quoted say that will take until at least 2030.
Boeing said on October 5 that Lockheed Martin awarded it an undefinitized contract action valued at about $14.7 billion for seven years of PAC-3 MSE seeker production.
Hegseth called a CNN report on dangerously low inventories ‘fake news’; unnamed U.S. officials told RFE/RL and NPR the CSIS estimates broadly reflect the current state.
Patriot interceptors are among the most sought-after weapons in the world, and there are not enough of them. Ukraine says it received a third as many air-defense interceptors this year as in the same period of 2025, the United States is reported to have used more than half of its stock in the Iran conflict, and Gulf states want theirs replaced too. This explainer lays out the numbers and the production bottlenecks, with each figure attributed. It follows our reports on Russia’s mass attack on Ukraine and Germany’s new aid for Kyiv.
What the estimates say
A CSIS report, as summarized by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on August 6, estimated that the United States used more than half of its Patriot PAC-3 MSE and THAAD interceptor inventories in operations against Iran this year. It put PAC-3 MSE stocks at roughly 800, down from more than 2,300 before the conflict began in February, with THAAD stocks nearly halved. Mark Cancian of CSIS told RFE/RL that war planners ‘don’t want to go below’ about 800 to 900.
Defense News, in a July 10 report, said the U.S. fired between 1,060 and 1,430 Patriots in the war with Iran at roughly $3.9 million apiece, far more than the hundreds Ukraine received from all Western allies over four years. The government’s public position is different in tone: RFE/RL reports that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called a CNN report of ‘dangerously low’ inventories ‘fake news’ and that President Donald Trump wrote that the U.S. has ‘massive’ amounts of munitions. Unnamed administration officials told RFE/RL the CSIS estimates broadly reflect current inventories.
“The President has the most effective endorsement in American, or international, political history,” said Vance, when asked in an interview if he would also be extending an endorsement ahead of the election on Oct. 27. “I endorse American candidates and that’s where I’m focused on, is the midterms, so I’m not getting involved in the Israeli elections.”
When pushed for an answer, Vance added: “I’m not anti-endorsing [Netanyahu], I’m not pro-endorsing him.”
Vance’s response stood in stark contrast to Trump’s endorsement, as he put his “complete and total” support behind the Israeli leader, while praising his endurance as a “great warrior” Prime Minister.
Referencing the Iran war, Trump said: “If Israel has the wrong leader, which would be anyone other than Bibi [Netanyahu], America will have to do this work ourselves, and I am not inclined to do so.” He went on to say that Netanyahu has been “strong, brave, and brilliant in the face of tremendous opposition, including that coming from even Israel” and “despite all of that, he has endured.”
Many are viewing the Israeli election as a referendum on Netanyahu, who has faced heavy criticism over his handling of the Hamas-led attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The subsequent Israel-Hamas war has led to a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Netanyahu’s government has also been called to task over the reports of settler violence against Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank.
Ahead of the elections, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly met with Netanyahu on Monday during an unannounced visit to Israel, Axios said, citing two sources with knowledge.
The Pentagon declined to comment when contacted. TIME has also reached out to the Israeli embassy and Netanyahu’s office for comment.
Vance, meanwhile, has previously issued warnings to Israel regarding its relationship with the U.S. In June, he chastised members of Bibi’s cabinet who had voiced disapproval over Washington negotiating with Tehran to end the Iran war, which started in February with joint U.S. and Israeli strikes.
“Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time. And he happens to be the head of state of the world’s superpower,” Vance said as he led a White House press briefing. “If I was in the Cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.”
While Vance has said his focus is on American candidates ahead of the U.S. midterms, he has previously campaigned avidly overseas.
Vance’s campaigning for international candidates
Vance traveled to Hungary in April ahead of parliamentary elections as the Trump Administration put its full support behind then-Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who was up for re-election against opposition leader Péter Magyar. (Pro-European conservative Magyar went on to win the election, ending Orbán’s 16-year rule.)
“Together the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Hungary have been able to do amazing things,” Vance told reporters at a press conference in Budapest. “We want to build upon those amazing things. And of course, I want to help as much as I possibly can, the Prime Minister, as he faces this election season.” Vance later delivered remarks at a rally for Orbán.
Vance also notably met with Alice Weidel, co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, in February 2025, days before a German election.
During that trip, Vance spoke at the Munich Security Conference and used the platform to voice his concerns about Europe, claiming that free speech across the continent was “in retreat.”
He criticized what is known as the “firewall” approach in Germany—the agreement among other political parties that they will not work with the AfD. “Democracy rests on the sacred principle that the voice of the people matters. There is no room for firewalls,” he said.
President Trump’s complicated relationship with Netanyahu
Trump’s endorsement of Netanyahu comes after the pair have shared an, at times, contentious relationship in recent months.
Asked about possible endorsement last week, Trump told reporters “we haven’t even thought about it,” prompting many to wonder if he may stay silent ahead of the consequential Israeli election.
In June, Trump told reporters that Netanyahu has to be “more responsible with respect to Lebanon,” amid concerns the renewed fighting with Hezbollah could derail the U.S.-Iran peace agreement. (Which later collapsed in light of continued clashes over the Strait of Hormuz.)
“I’m not happy with the way Israel has handled themselves with Lebanon and with Hezbollah,” Trump told reporters at the G7 summit in France. “It just goes on forever,” he continued, seemingly referencing the exchanging of strikes between Israeli forces and the Hezbollah militant group. “When that happens, it throws a negative light on the big deal, the deal with Iran.”
Trump said he has an “unbelievable relationship” with Netanyahu, but claimed “Israel would have been blown up a long time ago, had I not gotten involved.”
Days before his public remarks, Trump reportedly called Netanyahu “f-cking crazy” during a fraught phone call after Netanyahu ordered an attack on a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut in retaliation for alleged attacks on Israel by Hezbollah.
How Qatar, Turkiye, Pakistan and Indonesia are deepening defence ties
Experts say conflicts and uncertainty are accelerating efforts to strengthen regional military capacity.
The ‘Badr’ project agreement was signed in the Qatari capital, Doha, between Qatar, Indonesia, Pakistan and Turkiye on October 21, 2026 [Handout/Turkish Defence Ministry via Al Jazeera]
Qatar, Turkiye, Pakistan and Indonesia signed a deal on Wednesday to deepen their defence industry cooperation, reflecting a broader effort by countries in the region to widen their network of security partners amid the prolonged US-Israel war with Iran.
The four countries signed the memorandum of understanding in Doha, building on existing military projects through joint production, technology transfers and more closely integrated supply chains.
The initiative comes as the failure of the United States and Iran to reach a concrete peace agreement pushes countries in the region to diversify their defence partnerships and look beyond what experts described as an overreliance on Washington for their security. But they stress that closer cooperation does not mean abandoning long-standing alliances…….
NATO has expanded from 12 founding members in 1949 to 32 members today. The alliance’s enlargement accelerated after the Cold War with the inclusion of former Warsaw Pact nations. Finland and Sweden joined in 2023-2024 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Details: Sybiha said there is almost no food left in Oleshky, and reports indicate that some civilians are being forced to survive by eating grass and weeds.
Medicines, clean water, electricity and medical care are also becoming increasingly difficult to access. Children are among those living in these conditions.
But the Trump regime sides with Russia and ignores their plight.
Blockade of Oleshky
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the city of Oleshky, located in the Russian-occupied part of Kherson Oblast in Ukraine, has been experiencing a worsening food crisis, as placement of land mines and drone attacks have disrupted supplies of food and medicine. The situation has been exacerbated by the fact, that only people who agreed to receive Russian citizenship have reportedly been qualified as eligible to receive aid from the occupying authorities. As a result, the city’s population has decreased from approximately 25,000 before the invasion to only 2,000 as of 2026.[1][2] Ukrainian officials have described the situation in the city and surrounding settlements as a humanitarian blockade, with witnesses making parallels with the Holodomor.[3][4]Location map of Oleshky in Ukraine
Published date: 20 October 2026 09:01 BST|Last update:5 hours 51 mins ago
As Washington limits its exposure, Cairo risks committing military power without defining its objectives or exit strategy
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi greets Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Cairo on 15 September 2026 (Ahmed Nureldine/Saudi Press Agency/AFP)
Ships approaching the Suez Canal, the Sumed pipeline, energy terminals and fuel storage facilities: these are among the assets Egypt must consider potentially exposed if it enters direct combat against Yemen’s Houthis.
The consequences could reach far beyond the forces Cairo deploys, threatening the infrastructure through which Egypt earns foreign currency and supplies its economy.
The Houthis would not need to strike the canal itself to undermine its revenues. Threats farther south can deter shipping, raise costs and force vessels onto longer routes. Navigation can remain technically possible while the traffic that gives the waterway its economic value moves elsewhere.
But Cairo must also consider a more serious scenario: direct attacks on vessels or infrastructure serving the canal, potentially forcing a complete suspension of navigation.
This is a risk to assess, rather than an established Houthi plan or a prediction that such an operation would succeed. This could benefit the Houthis and Iran by blocking US and Israeli naval movements from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (Getty Images)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said while visiting Iran that the country’s fight against the United States was a “just cause.”
Lavrov made the remarks while flanked by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran at a joint press conference.
Lavrov called the U.S. war with Iran an “unprovoked military campaign” and said Russia was committed to supporting the Iranian government.”
He added that Russia was committed to finding an end to the war.
This was Lavrov’s first visit to Iran since the conflict began in February.
“We once again expressed our country’s readiness to assist in finding mutually acceptable solutions to overcome this man-made crisis,” Lavrov said at the press conference, according to Kremlin media.
Lavrov said he visited the country to prevent the return of a large-scale war between the U.S. and Iran and added that Russia would never stop supporting Iran.
“Despite the difficult circumstances, Russia does not intend to abandon the implementation of agreements with Iran in the economic and investment spheres,” Lavrov said.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week waiving sanctions on Russia that were set to take effect under legislation Congress approved with overwhelming bipartisan support
Trump defended the measure as a way to help end Russa’s war with Ukraine and to keep it from assisting Iran.
Posted about 1h agoabout 1 hours ago, updated 48m ago48 minutes ago
Google says its London-based data centre is experiencing “service disruption”. (Reuters: Andrew Kelly)
In short:
Google says a “power event” at a London data centre has disrupted cloud services across Europe.
The outage has affected banks, websites and court live streams.
The technology giant says its engineers are working to fix the problem.
Google Cloud services have failed across Europe aftera “power event” at a data centre based in London, according to the tech giant’s website.
The issue has reportedly affected banks and other websites across the continent.
The Google Cloud website is not reporting serious issues in any other region, but said that services in parts of Europe could experience “elevated errors and intermittent network issues”.
“Due to a power event we had suffered an outage within europe-west2-b zone,” the Google Cloud website said.
Google said the incident began shortly after 6am UK time and that its engineering teams were investigating.
Customers of major UK banks were reporting issues accessing their accounts. (Reuters: Phil Noble)
Banking giant Revolut is among the institutions believed to have been affected by the outage.
“We are currently experiencing a service disruption affecting multiple services,” the bank said in a statement on social media.
“We can confirm that all our customers’ money and data are safe.”
Another major British bank, Halifax, wrote on X that customers were “having issues with our app and online”.
Brand trial live stream affected
Court live streams, including that of the ongoing trial of comedian Russell Brand, were also reportedly down as a result.
“We’re aware of an issue affecting Cloud Video Platform (CVP), used for some remote hearings,” the UK’s Courts and Tribunals Service said on X.
British media outlets reported that other major companies, including Royal Mail, Microsoft and delivery company DPD were also experiencing issues.
On 19 October, Inna Mariukhna and her one-year-old daughter Anhelina were killed in a Russian attack on Nova Vodolaha in Kharkiv Oblast. Inna taught primary school pupils at the local school
Monday afternoon, around 4:30 local time, families in Nova Vodolaha in the Kharkiv region were out in the central park because it was a nice day, and that’s what people do in parks. A Russian Geran-3 drone, the Iranian Shahed with a Russian name tag, found them there. Six people died. Three women aged 28, 34 and 36. A man around 40. An 11-year-old girl. And a baby in a stroller, 14 months old, named Anhelina, whose mother, Inna, made it to the hospital but didn’t survive. Fifteen more were wounded, seven of them children, pulling shrapnel out of their legs on a Monday afternoon in October.
A few hours later, a reporter asked the President of the United States about Russia. Donald Trump, a man who has never once in his life been asked a question and answered the question, said this: “Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine. They haven’t been doing much.”
Source:Dean Blundell, Substack
And now a war zone:
Nova Vodolaha
Ukraine, Europe
Nova Vodolaha is a small city in Kharkiv Oblast, eastern Ukraine, roughly 40 km southwest of Kharkiv. Founded in the 17th century as a Cossack settlement, it later developed around agriculture and light industry. The city is known for its historic wooden churches, including the 19th-century St. Nicholas Church, and serves as a local trade hub. Its proximity to Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, provides transport links via regional roads and rail. Trawellino tip: A quiet stop for those tracing Ukraine’s rural Cossack heritage.
Yes—recent national reporting shows ICE detaining children and separating families, including cases where young children became seriously ill in custody and where federal courts intervened. Pediatric and child-development research consistently warns that separation and detention instability can cause toxic stress, school disruption, and long-term mental health harm related to the ICE detention of children. Legally, these cases raise recurring red flags: due process failures, inadequate medical care, and detention practices that conflict with the Flores framework and child-welfare standards.
Recent reports highlight the alarming frequency of ICE detention of children across various states, raising concerns among child welfare advocates.
The increase in ICE detention of children has sparked protests and calls for reforms from numerous organizations.
1) A detained toddler was hospitalized; lawsuit alleges ICE returned her to detention and denied prescribed medication
A Reuters report (Feb. 8, 2026) describes a Texas federal lawsuit alleging an 18-month-old was hospitalized with life-threatening respiratory illness and then returned to ICE custody without necessary medication.
2) Data reporting shows children in ICE detention surging
Statistics reveal that the rate of ICE detention of children has surged, prompting discussions about the implications for their mental health.
The Marshall Project reported (Jan. 29, 2026) that the daily number of children in ICE detention jumped sixfold, citing analysis of enforcement datasets and documenting that thousands of minors have been booked into ICE detention since the current administration began.
3) Minnesota cases spotlight kids detained far from home; schools report fear and disruption
The effects of ICE detention of children extend beyond immediate safety concerns, affecting their long-term emotional well-being.
Recent reporting describes children detained after enforcement activity in Minnesota and transferred to family detention in Texas, with schools and communities scrambling to locate children and support families.
25 Babies and Toddlers Are in ICE Custody on an Average Day
ICE has dramatically increased detentions of children aged 3 and under, holding 25 of them in custody on an average day between January 2025 and March of this year, according to a new analysis by The Marshall Project and MS NOW of records obtained by the Deportation Data Project, a group of academics and lawyers who collect and share federal immigration data. That number is 10 times higher than it was in the previous 12 months under former President Joe Biden. Back then, on an average day, fewer than three babies and toddlers were held at facilities across the country.
Parents in ICE detention have complained of substandard conditions that frequently left their young children sick, isolated and regressing in their physical and intellectual development.
ICE did not respond to a request for comment about the dramatic increase in the number of young children in detention; but, in an emailed statement, an agency spokesperson said families with children receive appropriate food, water and medical care. In a separate statement, CoreCivic –– the private company that operates the primary ICE facility used to detain families –– echoed that its facilities were safe for infants and toddlers
2026 Trafficking Report: PH maintains Tier 1 ranking with ban on offshore gaming operations, conviction
By GMA News
Published October 12, 2026 11:50pm Updated October 13, 2026 12:06am
The Philippines retained its Tier 1 ranking in the US State Department’s 2026 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, taking note of the government ban on offshore gaming operations and the conviction of a former mayor in connection with a scam center.
“The government continued to demonstrate serious and sustained efforts during the reporting period; therefore, the Philippines remained on Tier 1,” according to the Report.
“These efforts included enacting legislation banning offshore gaming operations and prescribing criminal liability for traffickers who recruit workers for such operations and convicting a former mayor accused of trafficking in connection with a scam center,” it added.
The report also took note of other government efforts including, adopting a nationwide mandatory victim identification system and an enhanced NRM; increased the number of victims assisted; launch of a centralized interagency trafficking database; and expansion of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking’s (IACAT) prosecutorial task forces and prevention budget.
Sexual exploitation tops Philippine trafficking cases
While the rise of technology has worsened the exploitation of children and facilitated labour trafficking through fake job offers, holding online platforms accountable remains a major challenge.
Jane Bautista
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Sex trafficking victims accounted for the majority at 545 (311 women and 167 girls, 46 men and 21 boys), followed by labor trafficking victims at 345 (158 women and 23 girls, 147 men and 17 boys). COMPOSITE PHOTO COURTESY OF PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER
July 21, 2025
MANILA – Sexual exploitation remains the most common form of human trafficking in the Philippines, followed by labor trafficking and illegal adoption, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
“The most prevalent here in terms of cases and detection is really sex trafficking—especially online sexual abuse and exploitation of children (Osaec),” Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Felix Ty told the Inquirer in a recent interview.
Based on data from the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (Iacat), a total of 153 individuals were found guilty and penalized for trafficking-related offenses in 2024.
Of the convictions, 110 were for sex trafficking—including 43 involving Osaec—while 38 others were for labor trafficking and five for illegal adoption.
Damning CHR Report Exposes Torture, Mistreatment, Neglect of Children in Government Facilities
By Rights Report Philippines·April 9, 2026·14 min read·SHARE THIS
A report by the Commission on Human Rights accuses the Philippine government of violating laws meant to protect children. It documents a pattern of abuse against children in conflict with the law that begins at arrest, continues inside government facilities such as Bahay Pag-asa, and is sustained by a justice system too broken and too slow to protect them.
A CHILD in Mindanao was not just arrested. He was abducted, blindfolded, and tortured by police officers. While they worked on him, he told investigators later, he overheard them discussing whether to kill him and bury the body.
In Luzon. a boy recalled the moment a police officer punched him in the stomach during his apprehension. In another facility, children who complained of stomach pain, fever, or toothaches were given no medication. Instead, staff forced them to drink large amounts of water, a practice known inside the center as “water therapy.” When children repeatedly asked for actual medicine, they were told to drink more water.
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