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RENO, Nevada — Conservationists and a Native American tribe are suing the U.S. to try to block a Nevada lithium mine they say will drive an endangered desert wildflower to extinction, disrupt groundwater flows and threaten cultural resources.

The Center for Biological Diversity promised the court battle a week ago when the U.S. Interior Department approved Ioneer Ltd.’s Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron mine at the only place Tiehm’s buckwheat is known to exist in the world, near the California line halfway between Reno and Las Vegas.

It is the latest in a series of legal fights over projects President Joe Biden’s administration is pushing under his clean energy agenda intended to cut reliance on fossil fuels, in part by increasing the production of lithium to make electric vehicle batteries and solar panels.

The new lawsuit says the Interior Department’s approval of the mine marks a dramatic about-face by U.S. wildlife experts who warned nearly two years ago that Tiehm’s buckwheat was “in danger of extinction now” when they listed it as an endangered species in December 2022.

“One cannot save the planet from climate change while simultaneously destroying biodiversity,” said Fermina Stevens, director of the Western Shoshone Defense Project, which joined the center in the lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court in Reno.

“The use of minerals, whether for EVs or solar panels, does not justify this disregard for Indigenous cultural areas and keystone environmental laws,” said John Hadder, director of the Great Basin Resource Watch, another co-plaintiff.

Rita Henderson, spokesperson for Interior’s Bureau of Land Management in Reno, said Friday the agency had no immediate comment.

Ioneer Vice President Chad Yeftich said the Australia-based mining company intends to intervene on behalf of the U.S. and “vigorously defend” approval of the project, “which was based on its careful and thorough permitting process.”

“We are confident that the BLM will prevail,” Yeftich said. He added that he doesn’t expect the lawsuit will postpone plans to begin construction next year.

The lawsuit says the mine will harm sites sacred to the Western Shoshone people. That includes Cave Spring, a natural spring less than 1.6 kilometers away described as “a site of intergenerational transmission of cultural and spiritual knowledge.”

But it centers on alleged violations of the Endangered Species Act. It details the Fish and Wildlife Service’s departure from the dire picture it painted earlier of threats to the 15-centimeter-tall wildflower with cream or yellow blooms bordering the open-pit mine Ioneer plans to dig. 

The mine’s permit anticipates up to one-fifth of the nearly 3.6 square kilometers the agency designated as critical habitat surrounding the plants — home to various pollinators important to their survival — would be lost for decades, some permanently.

When proposing protection of the 368 hectares of critical habitat, the service said “this unit is essential to the conservation and recovery of Tiehm’s buckwheat.” The agency formalized the designation when it listed the plant in December 2022, dismissing the alternative of less-stringent threatened status.

“We find that a threatened species status is not appropriate because the threats are severe and imminent, and Tiehm’s buckwheat is in danger of extinction now, as opposed to likely to become endangered in the future,” the agency concluded.

The lawsuit also discloses for the first time that the plant’s population, numbering fewer than 30,000 in the government’s latest estimates, has suffered additional losses since August that were not considered in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s biological opinion.

The damage is similar to what the bureau concluded was caused by rodents eating the plants in a 2020 incident that reduced the population as much as 60%, the lawsuit says.

The Fish and Wildlife Service said in its August biological opinion that while the project “will result in the long-term disturbance (approximately 23 years) of 146 acres (59 hectares) of the plant community … and the permanent loss of 45 acres (18 hectares), we do not expect the adverse effects to appreciably diminish the value of critical habitat as a whole.” 
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Editor’s note: Here is a look at immigration-related news around the U.S. this week. Questions? Tips? Comments? Email the VOA immigration team: ImmigrationUnit@voanews.com.

By immigrants, for immigrants: ‘Documented’ covers immigration through a personal lens

In New York City, a media outlet run by immigrants for immigrants uses messaging apps to engage with communities on elections, crime and local issues. Liam Scott and Cristina Caicedo Smit have the story, narrated by Caicedo Smit. Tina Trinh contributed.

Naturalized citizens to play a bigger role in 2024 election

Naturalized immigrants will make up 10% of Americans eligible to vote in 2024. What impact might they have on the election?

US border arrests remained lower in October amid Biden asylum restrictions

U.S. border authorities apprehended about 54,000 migrants illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in October, according to preliminary figures obtained by Reuters. They show a marginal rise from September but continue the broader downward trend since June when new restrictions were imposed under President Joe Biden. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, has called for even tougher border restrictions in the face of criticism by Republican candidate Donald Trump over illegal immigration. Reuters reports.

Migrant families separated under Trump still feel fallout, fear his return

With the United States on the verge of an election that could put former President Donald Trump back in office, Billy wants people to know that what happened to him and several thousand other children still reverberates. Some families have not been reunited, and many of those together in the U.S. have temporary status and fear a victorious Trump carrying out promised mass deportations. The Associated Press reports.

Immigration around the world

VOA60 World – At least 10 dead after Israeli airstrike on a street in Gaza’s Nuseirat Refugee Camp

An Israeli strike on a street in central Gaza’s Nuseirat Refugee Camp killed at least 10 people, including children, and injured 20 others, according to Palestinian health officials and Associated Press journalists.

Myanmar opposition: Dialogue impossible, China must rethink junta support

Malaysia, hosting about 200,000 Myanmar refugees, has a direct stake in resolving the crisis. Produced by Nyein Chan Aye. 

Canada-India tensions could escalate cyberthreats, hinder immigration

Canada’s deepening dispute with India over its alleged campaign of violence against Sikhs in Canada could intensify Indian-based cyber espionage and hold back immigration, but analysts and experts see no immediate impact on trade. Concern about a widening rift between the two countries comes after a senior Canadian official told a parliamentary national security committee Tuesday that Indian Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah, a close ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was the mastermind behind the alleged plots. Reported by Reuters.

Sudan displacement crisis worsens as fighting, hunger, sexual violence escalates

The International Organization for Migration warned Tuesday that Sudan’s displacement crisis is worsening as increasing numbers of people flee fighting, hunger and sexual violence, thereby threatening “regional instability.” “The scale of this displacement and the corresponding humanitarian needs grows every day,” Amy Pope, IOM director general, told journalists in Geneva on a video link from Port Sudan. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva.

Uganda struggles to feed 1.7 million refugees as international support dwindles

Uganda is home to more than 1.7 million refugees, the largest refugee-hosting country in Africa, according to the United Nations refugee agency. Despite being renowned for welcoming those fleeing neighboring violence, Ugandan officials and humanitarians say dwindling international support coupled with high numbers of refugees have put much pressure on host communities. Reported by The Associated Press.

Russian army deserters hope French asylum decision will encourage others to flee

Thousands of Russians, including soldiers, have sought asylum in the West since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 — though only a small fraction of their applications have been approved. This month, however, France allowed several Russian army deserters to enter the country to seek refugee status. Henry Ridgwell reports.

News Brief

— An investigation led by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Newark resulted in the sentencing of a New Jersey woman for harboring two undocumented women from India and for failing to pay taxes on their wages.
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CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Nearly 200 families gathered Saturday along a stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border for heartfelt but brief reunions with loved ones they had not seen for years because they live in different countries. 

Tears flowed and people embraced as Mexican families were allowed to reunite for a few minutes at the border with relatives who migrated to the U.S. Adults and children passed over the Rio Grande to meet with their loved ones. 

This year, the annual “Hugs Not Walls” event organized by an immigrant rights advocacy group happened three days before the U.S. presidential election, whose monthslong campaigns have focused heavily on immigration and border security. It also took place under decreased security, according to the Network in Defense of the Rights of Migrants. 

“We did not have barbed wire, we did not have so many soldiers deployed in our community,” said Fernando Garcia, the organization’s director, highlighting the border security changes that the border has seen since the reunions began last decade. “The barbed wire had to be opened so that the families could have this event.” 

Garcia said he expects migration into the U.S. to continue regardless of who wins Tuesday’s election. Family reunions, he said, will continue, too. 

“Deportation policy, border policy, immigration policy, is separating families in an extraordinary way and is deeply impacting these families,” he said.
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За зведенням, російські загарбники 11 разів намагалися прорвати оборону українських сил на Покровському напрямку
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The good news: You will get a glorious extra hour of sleep. The bad: It’ll be dark by late afternoon for the next few months in the United States.

Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. local time Sunday, which means you should set your clock back an hour before you go to bed. Standard time will last until March 9, when we will again “spring forward” with the return of daylight saving time. 

“Fall back” should be easier. But it still may take a while to adjust your sleep habits, not to mention the downsides of leaving work in the dark or trying to exercise while there’s still enough light. Some people with seasonal affective disorder, a type of depression usually linked to the shorter days and less sunlight of fall and winter, may struggle, too. 

Some health groups, including the American Medical Association and American Academy of Sleep Medicine, have said it’s time to do away with time switches and that sticking with standard time aligns better with the sun — and human biology. 

Two states — Arizona and Hawaii — don’t change and stay on standard time. 

Here’s what to know about the twice-yearly ritual. 

How the body reacts to light 

The brain has a master clock that is set by exposure to sunlight and darkness. This circadian rhythm is a roughly 24-hour cycle that determines when we become sleepy and when we’re more alert. The patterns change with age, one reason that early-to-rise youngsters evolve into hard-to-wake teens. 

Morning light resets the rhythm. By evening, levels of a hormone called melatonin begin to surge, triggering drowsiness. Too much light in the evening — that extra hour from daylight saving time — delays that surge and the cycle gets out of sync. 

How do time changes affect sleep? 

Even an hour change on the clock can throw off sleep schedules — because even though the clocks change, work and school start times stay the same. 

That’s a problem because so many people are already sleep deprived. About 1 in 3 U.S. adults sleep less than the recommended seven-plus hours nightly, and more than half of U.S. teens don’t get the recommended eight-plus hours on weeknights. 

How to prepare for the time change 

Some people try to prepare for a time change jolt by changing their bedtimes little by little in the days before the change. There are ways to ease the adjustment, including getting more sunshine to help reset your circadian rhythm for healthful sleep. 
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Підтверджень цієї інформації з інших джерел наразі немає, українське командування її не коментувало
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North Carolina is one of seven so-called swing states that could determine the next U.S. president. Kamala Harris, Donald Trump and their surrogates have spent a lot of time campaigning in this southern state. Black Americans make up 22% of the population, and those voters could decide who gets North Carolina’s 16 Electoral College votes. Rafael Saakov has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Videographer: Aleksandr Bergan
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Двох дітей і 83-річну госпіталізували, решті поранених надали допомогу на місці
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The state of California has passed several laws attempting to regulate artificial intelligence, including AI used to create realistic looking but manipulated audio or video — known as a deepfake. In this U.S. election season, the aim is to counter misinformation. But it has raised concerns about free speech. From California, Genia Dulot has our story.
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«Найгарячіший сьогодні Курахівський напрямок. 18 боїв завершено, ще 17 – продовжуються дотепер»
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LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY — A federal jury on Friday convicted a former Kentucky police detective of using excessive force on Breonna Taylor during a botched 2020 drug raid that left her dead.

The 12-member jury returned the late-night verdict after clearing Brett Hankison earlier in the evening on a charge that he used excessive force on Taylor’s neighbors.

It was the first conviction of a Louisville police officer who was involved in the deadly raid.

Some members of the jury were in tears as the verdict was read around 9:30 p.m. They had earlier indicated to the judge in two separate messages that they were deadlocked on the charge of using excessive force on Taylor but chose to continue deliberating. The six-man, six-woman jury deliberated for more than 20 hours over three days.

Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, celebrated the verdict with friends outside the federal courthouse, saying: “It took a lot of time. It took a lot of patience. It was hard. The jurors took their time to really understand that Breonna deserved justice.”

Hankison fired 10 shots into Taylor’s glass door and windows during the raid but didn’t hit anyone. Some shots flew into a next-door neighbor’s adjoining apartment.

The death of the 26-year-old Black woman, along with the May 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, sparked racial injustice protests nationwide.

Bernice King, the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., called the verdict “a long-awaited moment of accountability.”

“While it cannot restore Breonna to her family, it represents a crucial step in the pursuit of justice and a reminder that no one should be above the law,” King said in a social media post Friday night.

A separate jury deadlocked on federal charges against Hankison last year, and he was acquitted on state charges of wanton endangerment in 2022.

The conviction against Hankison carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. He will be sentenced on March 12 by U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings.

Hankison, 48, argued throughout the trial that he was acting to protect his fellow officers after Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired on them when they broke down Taylor’s door with a battering ram.

This jury sent a note on Thursday to the judge asking whether they needed to know if Taylor was alive as Hankison fired his shots.

That was a point of contention during closing arguments, when Hankison attorney Don Malarcik told the jury that prosecutors must “prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms. Taylor was alive” when Hankison fired.

After the jury sent the question, Jennings urged them to keep deliberating.

Walker shot and wounded one of the officers. Hankison testified that when Walker fired, he moved away, rounded the corner of the apartment unit and fired into Taylor’s glass door and a window.

Meanwhile, officers at the door returned Walker’s fire, hitting and killing Taylor, who was in a hallway.

Hankison’s lawyers argued during closing statements Wednesday that Hankison was acting properly “in a very tense, very chaotic environment” that lasted about 12 seconds. They emphasized that Hankison’s shots didn’t hit anyone.

Hankison was one of four officers charged by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2022 with violating Taylor’s civil rights. Hankison’s verdict is the second conviction from those cases. The first was a plea deal from a former officer who was not at the raid and became a cooperating witness in another case.

Malarcik, Hankison’s attorney, spoke at length during closing arguments about the role of Taylor’s boyfriend, who fired the shot that hit former Sergeant John Mattingly at the door. He said Walker never tried to come to the door or turn the lights on as police were knocking and instead armed himself and hid in the dark.

“Brett Hankison was 12 inches away from being shot by Kenneth Walker,” Malarcik said.

Prosecutors said Hankison acted recklessly, firing 10 shots into doors and a window where he couldn’t see a target.

They said in closing arguments that Hankison “violated one of the most fundamental rules of deadly force: If they cannot see the person they’re shooting at, they cannot pull the trigger.” 

Neither of the officers who shot Taylor — Mattingly and former Detective Myles Cosgrove — were charged in Taylor’s death. Federal and state prosecutors have said those officers were justified in returning fire, since Taylor’s boyfriend shot at them first.
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Georgia appeared to be on track to elect former U.S. President Donald Trump earlier in the 2024 presidential campaign when President Joe Biden was still in the race. But Vice President Kamala Harris has put the state back into play for Democrats.
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — During the six decades since United Record Pressing stamped out the Beatles’ first U.S. single, the country’s oldest vinyl record maker has survived 8-tracks, cassettes, CDs, Napster, iPods and streaming services. Now, the Nashville-based company has rebounded so dramatically that some of its equipment and technology has been retrofitted to keep pace with an ever-growing demand for old-school vinyl.

The 75-year-old company has adjusted its business from filling jukeboxes to helping DJs spin and stocking shelves despite a pandemic. On shelves in its warehouse are master versions by Johnny Cash, Kanye West and The Black Crowes.

When Mark Michaels bought the company in 2007, vinyl was fading — its 38 employees mostly made singles for rap artists, often promos for clubs. Michaels wanted a hands-on chance to build a business and thought he could keep this one steady, but not grow it substantially. It also came with a rich history as the first record pressing plant in the South, including an apartment atop the factory that housed Black artists and music executives during segregation.

“You walked into this building and you just felt 50, 60 years of history and just the importance of what it stood for,” said Michaels, the company’s CEO and chair. “And yeah, you you get choked up, you get gooseflesh just experiencing that.”

Today, United Record Pressing runs a newer factory six times bigger than what Michaels bought, with about 125 employees who make up to 80,000 records a day.

A variety of factors have boosted vinyl in recent years, from independent artists insisting on vinyl albums to big box retailers getting on board again.

In 2023, U.S. revenues from vinyl records grew 10% to $1.4 billion, the 17th-straight year of growth, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. Records accounted for 71% of revenues from non-digital music formats, and for the second time since 1987, vinyl outpaced CDs in total sold.

United Record Pressing underwent its own evolution. The initial pressing plant was formed in 1949 by Nashville label Bullet Records. In the 1950s, it changed to Southern Plastics Inc. and focused on 7-inch singles preferred by jukebox makers.

In the early 1960s, the company was pressing more than 1 million records per month. It signed a deal to produce singles for Motown Records and moved to a bigger facility that included the apartment that hosted The Supremes, Smokey Robinson and others — and which became known as the “Motown Suite.” In 1963, it pressed the Beatles’ first U.S. single, “Please Please Me.” Then in the 1970s, a restructuring turned the company into United Record Pressing.

During the 1980s, records dwindled to a niche market. DJs still needed records for their turntables. Rap and hip-hop artists used them for “scratching.” But CDs had overtaken them.

By the late 2000s, indie artists were insisting on releasing vinyl records. By 2015, records were broadly embraced again, but there were few manufacturers, and they were relying on presses from the 1960s and 1970s and a limited number of specialists who could operate them, Michaels said. Demand increased again during the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s art,” Michaels said of vinyl records. “Artists and fans, they want something tactile to hold on to and engage with. It’s easy to stream music, and streaming music is a wonderful way to discover new music. But you know, at the end of the day, it’s kind of sonic wallpaper.”

Today, the factory mixes old and new.

There’s plenty of wood paneling on the throwback audio equipment used to test master versions of records before they are used to press copies. And the factory floor has its share of retrofitted pressing equipment that looks and sounds like it’s been around since the last time vinyl ruled the market.

Technology is improving the process, too. Beyond the older presses are sleek, newly made machines that plop out records more quietly and efficiently. And there are huge sacks of colorful pebbles from discarded material that can be pressed again into new records.

The machines that stamp master copies use technology that had been in place to produce CDs and DVDs, now retooled for vinyl.

In a room farther back in the factory, the whizzing of machinery gives way to music.

That’s where Tyler Bryant might listen to 10 records in a shift as the company’s quality control lead. Talking over the rhythms of harmonica from a Cash album, Bryant said he discovers many artists and records that wouldn’t be on his list, ranging from Harry Styles to Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” to indie artists.

“A lot of variety, that’s what I appreciate,” Bryant said. “I don’t like being stuck to just one genre, you know?”

A few miles away, architects and a construction crew are at work to preserve the old 1962 plant and pave the way for its future. As for what that will look like, Michaels says stay tuned.

“My vision is not completely crystallized yet, but the mandate is, it’s some of the most important space in all of music,” Michaels said. “It needs to be celebrated. It needs to be something that people can engage with.”
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BEAUFORT, SOUTH CAROLINA — South Carolina is preparing to put up its first individual statue for an African American on its Statehouse lawn, honoring a man who put on Confederate clothes in order to steal a slaveholder’s ship and sail his family and a dozen others to freedom during the Civil War.

But Robert Smalls isn’t just being honored for his audacious escape. He spent a decade in the U.S. House of Representatives, helped rewrite South Carolina’s constitution to allow Black men equality after the Civil War and then put up a valiant but doomed fight when racists returned to power and eliminated nearly all of the gains Smalls fought for.

U.S. Representative Jermaine Johnson can’t wait to bring his children to the Statehouse to finally see someone who is Black like them being honored.

“The man has done so many great things, it’s just a travesty he has not been honored until now. Heck, it’s also a travesty there isn’t some big Hollywood movie out there about his life,” said Johnson, a Democrat from a district just a few miles from the Statehouse.

The idea for a statue to Smalls has been percolating for years. But there was always quiet opposition preventing a bill from getting a hearing. That changed in 2024 as the proposal made it unanimously through the state House and Senate on the back of Republican Representative Brandon Cox of Goose Creek.

“South Carolina is a great state. We’ve got a lot of history, good and bad. This is our good history,” Cox said.

What will the Robert Smalls memorial look like?

The bill created a special committee that has until January 15 to come up with a design, a location on the Statehouse lawn and the money to pay for whatever memorial they choose.

But supporters face a challenging question: What best honors Smalls?

If it’s just one statue, is it best to honor the steel-nerved ship pilot who waited for all the white crew to leave, then mimicked hand signals and whistle toots to get through Confederate checkpoints, while hoping Confederate soldiers didn’t notice a Black man under the hat in the pale moonlight in May 1862?

Or would a more fitting tribute to Smalls be to recognize the statesman who served in the South Carolina House and Senate and the U.S. House after the Civil War? Smalls bought his master’s house in Beaufort in part with money made for turning the Confederate ship over to Union forces, then allowed the man’s penniless wife to live there when she was widowed.

Or is the elder Smalls who fought for education for all and to keep the gains African Americans made during the Civil War the man most worth publicly memorializing? Smalls would see a new constitution in 1895 wipe out African Americans’ right to vote. He was fired from his federal customs collector job in 1913 when then President Woodrow Wilson purged many Black men out of government jobs.

Or would it be best to combine them all in some way? That’s how Republican Representative Chip Campsen, an occasional ship pilot himself, sees honoring one of his favorite South Carolinians.

“The best way to sum up Robert Smalls’ life is it was a fight for freedom as a slave, as a pilot and as a statesman,” Campsen said.

Location, location, location

Then there is the matter of location. While South Carolina has a monument with multiple panels honoring the struggle of African Americans from their journey on slave ships through today, it doesn’t honor an individual Black man or woman among the two dozen monuments scattered around the Statehouse.

At least six different monuments honor people such as Dr. J. Marion Sims, who some consider the father of modern gynecology but who underpinned his research operating without anesthesia on enslaved women and girls. There are several honoring Confederates who fought to protect slavery in the state that started the Civil War and hangs a marble copy of the Articles of Secession in the lobby between its House and Senate chambers.

The dubious list includes “Pitchfork” Ben Tillman, a governor and U.S. senator who bragged about how he led groups of whites who killed Black men trying to vote during the election of 1876 which led to the end of Reconstruction, the return of all-white rule and the collapse of everything for which Smalls had worked. None of that is on the plaque for Tillman’s statue.

Some supporters have suggested Smalls’ statue could stand nearby and be taller and more prominent than Tillman’s to give Smalls a triumph some 130 years in the making.

Once design and location are determined, organizers hope raising the money gets easier with a concept in mind.

“We have to get the narrative right,” Republican Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey said. “This is going to tell a story. I think it is important that we tell that the right way to honor him and to honor South Carolina. I think it’s really cool.”

Robert Smalls’ monumental life

Robert Smalls was born in 1839 in Beaufort and died in 1915 in his hometown a free, but somewhat forgotten man who lived a life unimaginable to a woman holding her son born into slavery. Supporters now have a chance to make sure he never fades into obscurity.

“Robert Smalls writes a new future for this county that in the moment no one can see is happening,” said Chris Barr, the Chief of Interpretation for the Reconstruction Era National Historic Park in Beaufort as he stood beside a bust of Smalls near his grave in his hometown.

Driving a Confederate boat to freedom is what captures the most attention in that remarkable life, Barr said.

“If you’re an enslaved person working on one of these boats around the Charleston Harbor like Robert Smalls, you’ve got the tools, you’ve got the talent, you’ve got the boat and you know how to drive it,” Barr said “And you can literally see freedom floating in the form of the United States Navy just a few miles offshore. All you need is an opportunity.”
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washington — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is sending additional bomber aircraft and Navy warships to the Middle East to bolster the U.S. presence in the region as an aircraft carrier and its warships are preparing to leave, U.S. officials said Friday. 

Austin ordered several B-52 Stratofortress bomber aircraft, tanker aircraft and Navy destroyers to deploy to the Middle East, according to four U.S. and military officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss troop movements. 

The military moves come as Israel’s wars with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon rage, including a retaliatory strike on Iran a week ago that likely damaged a base that builds ballistic missiles and launches rockets as part of Tehran’s space program. 

The U.S. is pressing for cease-fires, while repeatedly saying it will defend Israel and continue to protect the American and allied presence in the region, including from Yemen-based Houthi attacks against ships in the Red Sea. 

The long-range nuclear-capable B-52 bomber has been repeatedly deployed to the Middle East in pointed warnings to Iran and it is the second time this month that strategic U.S. bombers will be used to bolster U.S. defenses in the region. 

In October, B-2 stealth bombers were used to strike underground Houthi targets in Yemen. 

Officials did not provide the number of aircraft and ships that will move into the region. The shifts are likely to result in an overall decrease in the total number of U.S. service members in the region, largely because an aircraft carrier contains as many as 5,000 sailors. 

But the addition of bomber aircraft beefs up U.S. combat strength. There have been as many as 43,000 U.S. forces in the region recently. 

According to a U.S. official, the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and the three Navy destroyers in its strike group are scheduled to leave the Middle East by midmonth and return to their home port in San Diego. 

When it departs, there will be no aircraft carrier in the Middle East for a period of time, the official said. Officials declined to say how long that gap would last. 

Military commanders have long argued that the presence of an aircraft carrier strike group, with its array of fighter jets, surveillance aircraft and heavily armed warships, is a significant deterrent, including against Iran. 

To make up for that gap, Austin is ordering the deployment of other Navy destroyers to the region. Those destroyers, which are capable of shooting down ballistic missiles, would come either from the Indo-Pacific region or Europe, the official said. 

Eventually, it is expected that the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier and its three warships will move to the Mediterranean Sea, but they won’t get there before the Lincoln departs. The Truman strike group has been in the North Sea, participating in a NATO military exercise. 

The Lincoln and two of its destroyers are now in the Gulf of Oman, and its third destroyer is with two other warships in the Red Sea. 

There are also two destroyers and the Marine amphibious ready group — which includes three ships — in the Mediterranean Sea. 
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A New York prosecutor told jurors on Friday that the way veteran Daniel Penny defused an uncomfortable situation on the subway by using a chokehold “went way too far.”

Prosecutor Dafna Yoran said Penny, a white Marine veteran, continued to hold his arm around the neck of Jordan Neely, a homeless Black man who had been acting erratically, after Neely’s body went limp.

When the train stopped at a station, one rider told Penny, “If you don’t let him go now, you’re going to kill him,” Yoran told the jury in her opening statement Friday. Penny has been charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. He has pleaded not guilty, saying he was acting in self-defense.

“Deadly physical force is permitted only when it’s absolutely necessary and only for as long as it’s absolutely necessary,” Yoran said. Penny “went quite literally for the jugular,” she added.

The deadly encounter happened more than one year ago and received wide news coverage at the time, with some people casting Penny as a hero and others casting Neely as a victim of a vigilante.

Neely, whom Yoran said was homeless and suffering with mental illness, entered the subway train on May 1, 2023, threw his coat to the ground and told the riders he was hungry, thirsty and wanted to return to jail. His erratic behavior is something that New Yorkers can witness daily.

“His voice was loud and his words were threatening,” Yoran said, but Neely was also unarmed and did not physically threaten any of the riders.

Thirty seconds after Neely entered the train, the prosecutor said, Penny placed Neely in a chokehold. Yoran said Penny held Neely in the chokehold for about six minutes.

Video of the incident, Yoran said, would show “how unnecessary this deadly chokehold was.” There is cellphone video of the incident, recorded from the subway platform.

The prosecutor also said that Penny, who has first aid training, did not try to revive Neeley.

Penny later told police, “I put him out” and said that he was trying to “de-escalate” the scene on the subway.

According to The Associated Press, Neeley was a Michael Jackson impersonator who sometimes performed his act for subway riders. His mental illness and drug abuse, AP said, was likely triggered by his mother’s murder when he was a teenager.

Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters.
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