Shaka Ssali, host of Straight Talk Africa.
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From: MeNeedIt

Immigrants convicted of illegally reentering the U.S., driving drunk or committing domestic violence will be barred from claiming asylum under a proposed regulation announced Wednesday by the Trump administration.

The proposal, which must go through a public comment period before it is finalized, lists seven criminal areas, including some low-level crimes, that would bar migrants from claiming asylum in addition to federal restrictions already in place. It also would remove a requirement for immigration judges to reconsider some asylum denials.

It’s another push to restrict asylum by President Donald Trump’s administration, which claims migrants are gaming the system so they can spend years in the U.S. despite their ineligibility, in part because of a lower bar for initial screenings. Most of the people who claim asylum are fleeing violence, poverty and corruption in their home countries.

Immigrant advocates and humanitarian groups have criticized Trump’s hard-line policies as inhumane and have said the U.S. is abdicating its role as a safe haven for refugees.

But an immigration court backlog has reached more than 1 million cases, and border agencies were overwhelmed this year by hundreds of thousands of Central American families that require more care-giving and are not easily returned over the U.S.-Mexico border.

In an effort to stop the flow of migrants, the Department of Homeland Security, which manages immigration, has sent more than 50,000 migrants back over the border to wait out asylum claims. The migrants often are victimized in violent parts of Mexico and sickened by unsanitary conditions in what have become large refugee camps. Homeland Security officials also have signed agreements with Guatemala and other Central American nations to send asylum seekers there. The first families have already been sent to Guatemala.

The Justice Department also has taken aim at so-called sanctuary cities, like New York and Chicago, which do not assist Homeland Security agents with immigration-related requests. New York officials, for example, say they do not believe immigrants should be deported for minor offenses and won’t notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement if they have an immigrant in their custody. Attorney General William Barr and acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf complained about such policies.

“I think what we are doing is playing politics with public safety,” Wolf said recently in a Fox News Channel interview on New York laws. “That is really concerning from protecting the homeland perspective, making sure that DHS law enforcement officers have the data and the tools that they need to protect their communities.”

The proposed new rules would make asylum seekers ineligible if they were convicted of a felony or if they were arrested repeatedly on domestic violence charges. Other crimes include: low-level convictions for false identification or unlawful receipt of public benefits. Plus: smuggling or harboring immigrants, illegal reentry, a federal crime involving street gang activity or driving while under the influence of an intoxicant.

These crimes are in addition to other bars already in place  through federal asylum laws.

The changes were made so that the departments “will be able to devote more resources to the adjudication of asylum cases filed by non-criminal aliens,” according to a joint release Wednesday by the Justice Department and Homeland Security.

For the budget year 2018, there were about 105,500 asylum applications by those who came to the U.S. and were not in deportation proceedings first. The figure decreased by 25% from the previous budget year.

During the same period, the number of asylum applications by migrants who were already in court for deportation proceedings increased about 12%, to 159,473, mostly from Central America and Mexico.

According to Homeland Security data, the total number of people granted asylum increased 46%, to 38,687, in 2018. The top countries were China, Venezuela and El Salvador.
 

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From: MeNeedIt

An editor of a Serbian website that investigates organized crime was denied entry to Abu Dhabi, where he was due to address a U.N. conference on corruption, after being told he had been blacklisted by an unidentified country, the journalist said.

Stevan Dojcinovic flew in to Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), on Tuesday and was turned back to Belgrade early on Wednesday morning after spending 12 hours at the airport.

“I was told that I had been blacklisted by another country,” Dojcinovic said. “Given close ties between United Arab Emirates and Belgrade, I would not exclude that Serbia had something to do with it.”

There was no immediate response from the UAE’s National Media Council to a Reuters request for comment. Approached by Reuters, the Serbian foreign ministry said it had no one available to comment.

The Association of Independent Journalists in Serbia protested against Dojcinovic’s deportation.

Dojcinovic’s Krik portal mainly writes about alleged links between Serbian politicians and organized crime. It has also written about UAE projects in Serbia.

In 2015 Dojcinovic was banned from entering Russia.

“I am not sure what the reason for either ban was but I am sure it has to do with my job as a journalist,” Dojcinovic told Reuters.

Serbia ranks 90th on a list of 180 countries in the 2019 World Press Freedom Index, compiled by the Reporters Without Borders advocacy group. The UAE ranks 133.

Reporters Without Borders warned earlier this year “the number of attacks on media (in Serbia) is on the rise, including death threats, and inflammatory rhetoric targeting journalists is increasingly coming from the governing officials.”

Sonya Yee, a spokesperson for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, told Reuters in emailed comments that “The UN Office on Drugs and Crime are aware that … Dojcinovic, was unable to enter the country to attend the 8th Conference of the States Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption (COSP).”

“We do not know the reasons .. and we have made inquiries to the [UAE] authorities about this specific situation.”

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From: MeNeedIt

African governments and refugee activists hope a ground-breaking refugee forum will deliver much-needed funding and voice to a region whose challenges are often eclipsed by more headline-grabbing crises.

Two decades ago, John Bolinga fled his hometown of Goma, in Democratic Republic of Congo’s restive northeast.

“Rebels came and attacked our home so my father was shot dead. So I had to run to Uganda,” Bolinga said.

He started out destitute, but eventually launched his own NGO in Kampala, which today helps women and children who like himself, were uprooted by violence.

He is sharing his story in Geneva, where countries are meeting for a first-ever global refugee forum. Here and elsewhere, Bolinga says, giving refugees a voice and active role in decisions that affect their lives is critical.

“The challenge is if refugees feel they’re not welcomed,” Bolinaa said, “and also the root causes which is making refugees to flee their countries is not tackled, there is going to be a crisis.”

Africa is a leading exporter of refugees. They count among the millions making perilous journeys across the Sahara and Mediterranean for a better life in Europe … which often isn’t realized. But Africa also shelters more than one-quarter of the world’s displaced people.

Critics note that some African countries severely restrict refugees’ opportunities. Still these nations are opening doors that others slam shut.

“African governments continue to carry the extra responsibility on behalf of all of us, in hosting refugees in keeping borders open,” Ambassador Mohamed Abdi Affey said.

The official is Horn of Africa special envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, which is hosting this forum.

“While we appreciate more spotlight and attention to other refugee cases like Syria and Yemen, Affey said. “… the ones in the Horn of Africa particularly, the ones who have been with us for 30 years, risk being forgotten.”

Those demands join broader calls here for wealthy nations and the private sector to do more for poorer countries that together host more than 80%  of the world’s refugees.

It’s coming from countries like Ethiopia, which hosts roughly one million refugees from 26 nations. Fisseha Meseret Kindie is director of humanitarian assistance and development at Ethiopia’s Agency for Refugees and Returnees.

“We are in shortage of finance, we cannot help them. And shortage of money,” Kindie said. “And we need the support from the international community at large.”

Some feel the page may be turning here in Geneva. Cameroon representative Tirlamo Norbert Wirnkar from Cameroon, which hosts more than 400,000 refugees, is optimistic this meeting will make a difference.

“We are really hopeful that pledges are going to be made on both sides — by the international community and host countries,” Wirnkar said.

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From: MeNeedIt

The number of journalists killed globally in 2019 is the lowest in over a decade as some war zones became less deadly, say two of the world’s leading free-press advocacy groups.

New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Paris-headquartered Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which is known by its French initials, released separate reports that identified the same trend on Tuesday.

Each of the annual reports, however, based findings on distinct research methodologies, resulting in some hard data discrepancies.

CPJ says at least 25 journalists were killed in the line of duty in 2019, the lowest figure since 2002 when 21 journalists lost their lives in the field. RSF reported 49 killed, the lowest number since 36 were killed in 2003.

Both organizations emphasized that although journalist war zone fatalities have declined, the number of journalists killed in countries at peace remains consistent with years prior, and that the decrease is no cause for complacency.

CPJ: Syria, Mexico are deadliest

CPJ logs killings only in direct reprisal for reporting combat-related crossfire, “or while carrying out a dangerous assignment such as covering a protest that turns violent.” Syria and Mexico are the deadliest for journalists in 2019, its report said.

“Deaths in Syria, where at least 134 journalists have been killed in the war, have declined since a high of 31 in 2012,” the CPJ report states.

“Even more striking, the subset of journalists singled out for murder, at least 10, is the smallest in CPJ’s annual records, which date to 1992,” the organization says, adding that half of those “singled out” for murder were killed in Mexico.

CPJ also reports that the decline comes amid “unprecedented global attention on the issue of impunity in journalist murders,” highlighting the October 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the October 2017 murder of Maltese investigative reporter Daphne Caruana Galizia.

“One place where efforts to combat impunity seemingly have had no effect is Mexico,” the report said.

“The decline in the number of journalists killed is welcome after years of escalating violence, and reinforces our determination to fight impunity and do all we can to keep journalists safe,” said Joel Simon, CPJ’s executive director.

The report also says the Oct. 11 death of Turkish Kurdish journalist Vedat Erdemci, who died in a Turkish airstrike on the northeastern Syrian city of Ras al-Ain, represents the only foreign journalist killed in the line of duty this year.

CPJ’s report, which says military officials were the “most frequently suspected killers of journalists this year,” reflects the number of journalists killed between Jan. 1 and Dec. 13, 2019.

RSF: Fewer killed, more behind bars

RSF’s “Worldwide Roundup of Journalists Killed, Detained, or Held Hostage” summarizes abusive treatment and deadly violence against “professional journalists, non-professional journalists and media workers.”

Like CPJ, RSF says journalism remains a “dangerous profession,” with 49 journalists killed this year, 389 currently imprisoned and 57 others being held hostage.

RSF’s data indicate that although most journalists were killed covering conflicts in Syria (10), Afghanistan (5), and Yemen (2) — compared with 34 last year — targeted assassinations in “at peace” nations such as Mexico (5) were alarmingly high.

“Latin America, with a total of 14 reporters killed across the continent, has become as deadly as the Middle East,” the report says.

“More and more journalists are being assassinated for their work in democratic countries, which is a real challenge to democracy,” said RSF director Christophe Deloire.

While fewer journalists are dying, more are ending up behind bars, RSF said. The 389 detained in 2019 represent a 12% increase since last year.

Nearly half of reporters imprisoned in state custody are in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and China, which alone “holds a third of the journalists locked up in the world,” the report says.

Turkey currently has 25 journalists in prison.

Meanwhile, 57 journalists are being held hostage across the globe, mostly in Syria (30), Yemen (15), Iraq (11), and Ukraine (1).

RSF’s report reflects the number of journalists killed between Jan. 1 and Dec. 1, 2019.

Information from AFP is included in this report.
 

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From: MeNeedIt

Turkish military operations which began in October in northern Syria have left over 200,000 thousand Syrians displaced in northern Iraq. The refugees left all their belongings behind so people around the world have stepped up to help.  VOA’s Hateen Mahmood  reports on a group of Kurdish volunteers in Nashville, Tennessee doing what they can.

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From: MeNeedIt

The U.S. this week deported a German man convicted in the high-profile killings of his girlfriend’s parents 35 years ago, in a crime that stunned a Virginia community and prompted decades of media obsession.

Jens Soering, 53, flew from a Washington, D.C.-area airport to Frankfurt on Monday, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

He served two life sentences for the first-degree murders in 1985 of Nancy and Derek Haysom, whose daughter Elizabeth attended the University of Virginia with Soering at the time. Both were found nearly decapitated in their Virginia home.

The young couple led police on an international chase after the killings and were arrested in London in 1986. Soering fought extradition on the grounds that the U.S. allowed for the death penalty in certain cases, but in 1990, capitulated to authorities.

Virginia authorities released him last month, on the condition that he be taken into immigration custody immediately.

Soering, the son of a German diplomat, told a reporter in 2011 that Elizabeth Haysom committed the double murder; but he “decided to lie and to cover (…) up” the crime by taking the blame, thinking that if he were returned to Germany, he would only spend a decade in prison at the most. 

“I loved Elizabeth and I believed that the only way I could save her life from the electric chair was for me to take the blame, and that I personally really faced no more than a few years in a German prison,” Soering testified at the time.

He was convicted of first-degree murder in 1990.

Elizabeth Haysom pleaded guilty to being an accessory in her parents’ stabbing deaths. She remains in prison in Virginia and must be released by 2032, if she is not paroled before.

Motives given at varying times during the trial and in the years since included disapproval of the young couple’s relationship by the Haysom family, and allegations of abuse against Elizabeth.
 

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From: MeNeedIt

Rallies against a new Indian citizenship law based on religion continued for a fifth consecutive day Monday amid clashes between students and the police. The protests that started Thursday in the northeastern state of Assam last Thursday have spread through university campuses and have left at least six people dead so far. The controversial law allows non-Muslims from three majority Muslim nations to obtain Indian citizenship. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has defended the law, saying it protects non-Muslims from persecution. But critics say the Hindu nationalist government is pushing a partisan agenda and undermining the country’s status as a secular republic.  VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.

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From: MeNeedIt

With the U.S. House of Representatives expected to vote to impeach President Donald Trump this week, the White House is shifting focus to the Republican-led Senate, where the president will face trial as early as January. Patsy Widakuswara has this story on how Trump and his allies are planning to mount a fast and aggressive defense, with the goal of turning the tables on opposition Democrats.

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From: MeNeedIt

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a case that would allow cities to make it a crime to sleep on the streets.

The court let stand a ruling by a ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, which struck down a couple of local laws in Boise, Idaho that made it a crime for homeless people to sleep on the streets when no alternative shelter is available.

The Ninth Circuit includes various western states that have a problem of astronomical real estate prices resulting in growing homelessness. Several major cities have tried to curb homelessness by passing strict local legislation.

Boise had appealed the ruling arguing it would allow homelessness to proliferate leading to public health issues.

“As long as there is no option of sleeping indoors, the government cannot criminalize indigent, homeless people for sleeping outdoors, on public property, on the false premise they had a choice in the matter,” the appeals court said in its ruling.

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From: MeNeedIt

Amnesty International says its documented death toll from Iran’s recent anti-government protests will rise again from the group’s latest report that at least 304 demonstrators were killed by security forces.

“That is not a final figure by any means,” said Amnesty’s Middle East research director Philip Luther in a VOA Persian interview on Monday. Hours earlier, the London-based rights group had updated its death toll for last month’s Iran protests to 304 fatalities from its previous figure of 208 reported on Dec. 3.

“We think the number could rise (further),”  Luther said, citing the group’s ongoing examination of “credible” reports showing Iranian security forces used live ammunition while suppressing several days of nationwide protests that erupted on Nov. 15.

“(Iranian security forces) have shot protesters with guns and they have done so in some cases when the protesters actually have been running away from them. This shows a clear intention to use lethal force,” Luther said.

In its update published Monday, Amnesty said its researchers determined that Iranian authorities arrested thousands of people as part of a “vicious” crackdown following the protests to stop them from speaking out about Iran’s “ruthless repression.” It said those arrested included children as young as 15, people who participated in the demonstrations, journalists, human rights defenders and students.

The group said it had carried out interviews with dozens of people inside Iran, who described how authorities have held the detainees incommunicado and subjected them to enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment.

Iran has declined to published any official data on those killed, wounded and arrested in the November protests, which the government sparked by raising the subsidized price of gasoline by 50%.

The gas price hike further strained the finances of Iranians facing high unemployment and inflation in a shrinking economy under heavy U.S. sanctions. Tens of thousands of angry Iranians took to the streets in dozens of cities nationwide to denounce government corruption and mismanagement. Initial street protests were peaceful, but quickly turned violent as some people looted stores and set fire to buildings and security forces beat and opened fire on unarmed demonstrators.

The Iranian government has acknowledged that security forces shot and killed some people, whom it referred to as rioters, during the protests.

Patrick Clawson, research director for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told VOA Persian that Iran’s heavy-handed crackdown on protesters and opposition activists could backfire.

“On the one hand, the protests were put down, and that discouraged people who went out there thinking that they could affect some kind of a change,” Clawson said. “On the other hand, over the last 20 years, even though each round of anti-government protests has been suppressed, the response has been for the next round to be more widespread, anti-regime and violent. That is not a good dynamic for the regime, and it’s hard to see anything that is going to stop that trend.”

This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service.

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From: MeNeedIt

A U.N. tribunal will hear arguments in March in the appeal of former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic, convicted of genocide and war crimes committed in Bosnia’s 1990s civil war.

Mladic, once dubbed the Butcher of Bosnia, was sentenced to life behind bars in November 2017 for his role in the Balkans war, including the 1995 Srebrenica massacre — Europe’s worst bloodshed since World War II.

About 100,000 people were killed and 2.2 million others displaced in the 1992-95 war, which erupted as communal rivalries tore Yugoslavia apart after the fall of communism.

Both prosecution and defense have appealed against the verdict, which found 77-year-old Mladic guilty on 10 counts including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder and deportation.

Judges at the U.N.’s International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague ordered that the hearings would take place on March 17-18.

In one of its final judgments, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) acquitted the brazen ex-commander of genocide in certain municipalities, a fact which now forms the bulk of the prosecution’s appeal.

Judges had said “ruthless” Bosnian Serb forces under Mladic’s command carried out “mass executions” and showed “little or no respect for human life or dignity”.

The crimes were “amongst the most heinous known to humankind”, the judge said when handing down the sentence.

At Srebrenica, Bosnian Serb forces overran UN peacekeepers before slaughtering almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys and dumping their bodies into mass graves.

Mladic was among the top leaders to face international justice over the Balkans wars — along with former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and ex-Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic.

They were accused of forming a “joint criminal enterprise” to create a Greater Serbia by ridding the territory of Bosnian Muslims and non-Serbs.

Milosevic died in his cell in The Hague in March 2006, suffering a heart attack before his trial had finished.

Karadzic was convicted of genocide in 2016 for the Srebrenica massacre and other atrocities during the war and sentenced to 40 years.

After an appeal, judges increased his sentence to life, saying the initial term had underestimated the “sheer scale and systematic cruelty” of his crimes.

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From: MeNeedIt