Australia Floods Recovery Could Take Several Months, PM Says 

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese looks on during a visit to the flood-affected region of Taree, Australia, 27 May 2025. (EPA)
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese looks on during a visit to the flood-affected region of Taree, Australia, 27 May 2025. (EPA)
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Australia Floods Recovery Could Take Several Months, PM Says 

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese looks on during a visit to the flood-affected region of Taree, Australia, 27 May 2025. (EPA)
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese looks on during a visit to the flood-affected region of Taree, Australia, 27 May 2025. (EPA)

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday flooding in the southeast posed "massive challenges" and the recovery would take several months.

Incessant rain over three days triggered major flooding in several rural towns in the Hunter and Mid North Coast regions of New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, as fast-rising rivers cut off more than 50,000 people last week.

"There are still massive challenges ... this is not something that will go away in a matter of days or weeks or even months," Albanese told reporters from the flood-hit town of Taree, more than 300 km (186 miles) north of Sydney.

"This will take some time, the recovery, but Australians are resilient."

Taree received just over 600 mm (24 inches) of rain over four days from May 20, roughly half its annual average, official data showed.

Australia has been hit with increasing extreme weather events that some experts say are the result of climate change. Following droughts and devastating bushfires at the end of last decade, frequent floods have wreaked havoc since early 2021.

Albanese said the flooding severely hurt the dairy industry, which "will have an impact right throughout Australia." Dead and lost livestock had washed up on the coast after the floods inundated several farms and homes.

A one-off disaster recovery payment of A$1,000 ($648) for adults and A$400 for children will be rolled out from Wednesday, while the ongoing 13-week income support allowance will be expanded to cover more residents, Albanese said.

Insurance Australia Group, the country's largest general insurer, said it had received around 2,500 claims as of Tuesday related to the floods, with most claims for property damage.

Nearly 800 properties have been deemed uninhabitable after conducting more than 7,300 damage assessments, a spokesperson for the New South Wales state emergency services said.



Trump Deploys Marines, Raising Tensions in Los Angeles Protests

Members of the California National Guard stand watch outside the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building on the morning of June 10, 2025, following another day of protests in response to federal immigration operations in Los Angeles. (AFP)
Members of the California National Guard stand watch outside the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building on the morning of June 10, 2025, following another day of protests in response to federal immigration operations in Los Angeles. (AFP)
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Trump Deploys Marines, Raising Tensions in Los Angeles Protests

Members of the California National Guard stand watch outside the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building on the morning of June 10, 2025, following another day of protests in response to federal immigration operations in Los Angeles. (AFP)
Members of the California National Guard stand watch outside the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building on the morning of June 10, 2025, following another day of protests in response to federal immigration operations in Los Angeles. (AFP)

Hundreds of Marines were due to arrive in Los Angeles on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump ordered their deployment in response to protests against immigration arrests and despite objections by state officials.

The 700 crack troops will join National Guard soldiers, amping up the militarization of the tense situation in the sprawling city, which is home to millions of foreign-born and Latino residents.

The largely peaceful demonstrations -- marred by sporadic but violent clashes between police and protesters -- were entering their fifth day. The unrest was sparked by a sudden intensification of Trump's signature campaign to deport illegal migrants, with raids conducted on workplaces.

In downtown LA's Little Tokyo neighborhood at night Monday, scores of protesters faced off with security officials in riot gear, some shooting fireworks at officers who fired back volleys of tear gas.

Earlier, demonstrators marching with banners and handmade signs yelled "ICE out of LA" and "National Guard go away" -- a reference to immigration agents and Guard soldiers.

California officials have stressed the majority of protesters have been peaceful and that they were capable of maintaining law and order themselves.

Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom wrote on X that US Marines "shouldn't be deployed on American soil facing their own countrymen to fulfill the deranged fantasy of a dictatorial President. This is un-American."

Trump, meanwhile, has branded the LA protesters "professional agitators and insurrectionists."

"If I didn't 'SEND IN THE TROOPS' to Los Angeles the last three nights, that once beautiful and great City would be burning to the ground right now," he wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday.

One small business owner in the city, whose property was graffitied during the protests, was supportive of Trump's strong-arm tactics.

"I think it's needed to stop the vandalism," she told AFP, declining to give her name.

Others were horrified.

"They're meant to be protecting us, but instead, they're like, being sent to attack us," Kelly Diemer, 47, told AFP. "This is not a democracy anymore."

Police have detained dozens of protesters in LA in the recent days, while authorities in San Francisco and other US cities have also made arrests.

- 'Incredibly rare' -

Trump's use of the military is an "incredibly rare" move for a US president, Rachel VanLandingham, a professor at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles and a former lieutenant colonel in the US Air Force, told AFP.

The National Guard -- a fully equipped reserve armed forces -- is usually controlled by state governors and used typically on US soil in response to natural disasters.

The Guard has not been deployed by a president over the objections of a state governor since 1965, at the height of the civil rights movement.

Deployment of regular troops, such as the Marines, on US soil is even more unusual.

US law largely prevents the use of the military as a policing force -- absent an insurrection. Speculation is growing that Trump could invoke the Insurrection Act giving him a free hand to use regular troops for law enforcement around the country.

The Pentagon said late Monday that Trump had authorized an extra 2,000 state guardsmen to LA.

The state of California has sued to block the use of the Guard troops and Newsom said he would also sue against the Marines deployment.