📌800 Immigrants Arrested, Fight Over Sandbars

Federal and state agencies made nearly 800 immigration arrests in a multiday immigration enforcement operation.

“ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), Miami and Florida law enforcement arrested nearly 800 illegal aliens this week during the first four days of #OperationTidalWave — a massive, multi-agency, immigration enforcement crackdown,” ICE wrote in a post on its X account along with photos.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) praised the joint effort in a post on the social platform Saturday, calling it “an example of FL and [the Department of Homeland Security] partnering to deliver big results on immigration enforcement and deportations.”

Florida is leading the nation in active cooperation with the Trump administration for immigration enforcement and deportation operations!” DeSantis added in a separate X post.

The operation comes as the White House steps up immigration enforcement efforts across the country, fulfilling a key campaign promise by President Trump while stoking pushback over multiple deportation cases in which critics have questioned the due process afforded to removal targets.

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said: “We brought a ‘whole the government’ approach with cooperative jurisdictions that want to help ICE secure communities in neighborhoods and remove public safety threats from our neighborhoods.”

China and the Philippines have each unfurled their national flags on tiny sandbars in the South China Sea.

Both are staking competing sovereignty claims in strategic waters seen as a potential flashpoint for global conflict.

The US and Philippine forces are holding their largest-ever annual joint military drills in nearby waters — and just weeks after US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed to enhance America’s military alliance with the Philippines to “reestablish deterrence” to counter “China’s aggression” in the region.

Beijing has asserted ownership over almost all of the waterway, in defiance of an international court ruling. Over the past two decades, China has occupied obscure reefs and atolls far from its shoreline across the South China Sea, building up military installations, including runways and ports.

On April 21, the US and the Philippines kicked off their annual

Balikatan

– meaning “shoulder to shoulder” – military exercises, which are expected to run for three weeks and have grown in scale each year.

This year, the US military has deployed an anti-ship missile launcher for the first time on the northern tip of the Philippine archipelago, just across the strait from Taiwan, a self-governing democracy Beijing has vowed to take by force if necessary.

An A-list watched film director Francis Ford Coppola receive the 50th AFI Lifetime Achievement Award.

At 86, Coppola joins an elite group of filmmakers who have received the honor that includes Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese, and Mel Brooks. The ceremony was a celebration of Coppola's career.

AFI Lifetime Achievement Award recipients Steven Spielberg and George Lucas presented Coppola with his award. "

The Godfather

, for me, is the greatest American film ever made," Spielberg told Coppola. Lucas thanked him “for creating an era of filmmakers who loved the movies.”

Coppola was described as the Godfather of modern cinema—not just a director but a producer on Lucas's

American Graffiti

, a mentor for Spielberg, and an advocate for actors like Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, and Harrison Ford.

Ford told the audience how he met Lucas while working as a carpenter for Coppola. Lucas, searching for the right Han Solo, was introduced to Ford, "covered in sawdust, wearing my tool belt, sweeping the floor. But I'm here tonight because of the community that Francis nurtured."

Companies that were once loud and proud in supporting LGBTQ+ community celebrations are pulling back.

LGBTQ+ Pride festivals have faced significant sponsorship challenges this year, with some losing corporate partners that collectively provided six-figure donations. Organizations say they’ve had to modify their programming, pivot to other funding sources and reconsider their dependencies on corporate dollars.

Companies have cited economic concerns for delaying or exiting partnerships with Pride groups. But LGBTQ+ group leaders noted an increasingly hostile climate for DEI efforts that prompted businesses to rethink their support.

Ryan Bos, Capital Pride Alliance’s executive director, said economic uncertainty, safety and security issues, fear of losing federal funding and President Trump’s executive order to investigate and sue companies supporting DEI all played a part in discouraging corporate sponsorship.

Even corporations that are sticking with Pride festivals have reduced their support. Denver Pride’s returning sponsors have pared down their contributions by 62% on average, said Natalie Zanoni, interim CEO of LGBTQ+ organization The Center on Colfax.

Several groups have turned to grassroots campaigns. Twin Cities Pride started a crowdfunding effort and raised over $110,000. Cincinnati Pride has netted over $43,000 and San Francisco Pride has fundraised $35,000, all through crowdfunding.

A poll shows Trump’s 41% approval is the lowest for any newly elected president at 100 days since at least Dwight Eisenhower.

A CNN poll finds Trump’s handling of the presidency is down 4 points since March, and 7 points lower than in late February. Just 22% say they strongly approve of Trump’s handling of the job, a new low, and about twice as many say they strongly disapprove (45%).

Since March, Trump’s approval from women and Hispanic Americans fell 7 points to 36% among women and 28% among Hispanics. Among political independents, the president’s rating has dipped to 31%, matching his first-term low point with that group and about the same as his standing in January 2021.

On inflation, approval is down 9 points to 35%, and on tariffs, it’s down 4 points to 35%. His marks for handling the economy are down 5 points to a career low of 39%; he hit his previous low once in his first term and again in March. Only about half (52%) express confidence in his ability to deal with the economy.

On managing the federal government, 42% approve, down 6 points since March, and only 46% express confidence in him to appoint the best people to office, down 8 points since Dec. Only 43% agree with Trump’s shake-up — 57% say his approach to the presidency is unnecessarily putting the country at risk.

Trump earns narrowly positive ratings on only one issue tested in the poll: his handling of issues related to gender identity and trans people. Overall, 51% approve of his handling, including 90% of Republicans, 48% of independents and 16% of Democrats.

A man has been charged after a car drove into a street festival in Vancouver, Canada, killing at least 11 people and injuring others.

Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, appeared in court late on Sunday and was returned to custody, the Vancouver Police Department said, adding that further charges are expected.

Acting police chief Steve Rai described Saturday's attack at the Lapu Lapu Day festival, attended by up to 100,000 people, as the "darkest day in the city's history.”

The identities of those killed have not yet been released by officials, and police said dozens more were hurt in the attack, which is not being treated as terrorism. The number of deaths could increase in the coming days or weeks, police said. Police said the suspect was known to them.

Organisers of the annual festival said the city's tight-knit Filipino community was “grieving.” The annual festival in Vancouver — home to over 140,000 Canadians of Filipino descent — commemorates Lapu-Lapu, a national hero who resisted Spanish colonisation in the 1500s.

A letter written onboard the

RMS Titanic

just days before the ship sank fetched £300,000 (around $400,000) at an auction.

Colonel Archibald Gracie wrote to an acquaintance while onboard the

Titanic

in 1912: ”It is a fine ship, but I shall await my journey's end before I pass judgment on her.” Three days later, the ship struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean. An estimated 1,500 people died.

“The OCEANIC is like an old friend, and while she does not possess the elaborate style and varied amusement of this big ship, still her seaworthy qualities and yacht-like appearance make me miss her,” Gracie wrote.

Gracie was rescued by the ship CARPATHIA. He suffered from hypothermia complications and other injuries in the months to follow, before he died in December 1912 of complications from diabetes. He wrote THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITANIC, published in 1913.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said Gracie's letter "is one of the finest of its type known" and has never come to the market before. "Not only is it written by one of the most important first-class passengers on before

Titanic

, [but] the letter itself contains the most prophetic line,” he said.