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Biden blocks deportation of Palestinians in US, citing conditions in Gaza

Biden blocks deportation of Palestinians in US, citing conditions in Gaza
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Pro-Palestinian demonstrators block traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco on Feb. 14, 2024, urging the US government to stop Israel's offensive in Gaza. (AP)
Biden blocks deportation of Palestinians in US, citing conditions in Gaza
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Protesters march in Braintree, Massachusetts, on Feb. 11, 2024, calling for a ceasefire in the war in Gaza. (AP)
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Updated 15 February 2024
Reuters
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Biden blocks deportation of Palestinians in US, citing conditions in Gaza

Biden blocks deportation of Palestinians in US, citing conditions in Gaza
  • Measure grants “deferred enforced departure” to an estimated 6,000 Palestinians currently in the US
  • After more than four months of war, Biden is facing pressure to do more to protect Palestinians in Gaza
Updated 15 February 2024
Reuters
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WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden has signed an order shielding Palestinians in the United States from deportation for the next 18 months, the White House said on Wednesday, citing deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip.

The move grants “deferred enforced departure” to an estimated 6,000 Palestinians, a Biden administration official said.
In a statement, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that following “the horrific October 7 terrorist attack by Hamas against Israel, and Israel’s ensuing military response, humanitarian conditions in Gaza have significantly deteriorated.”
Sullivan said Biden’s move would give Palestinians in the US “a temporary safe haven.” Anyone who voluntarily returns to the Palestinian territories would lose their protections, he added.
After more than four months of war, Biden is facing pressure to do more to protect Palestinians in Gaza and get aid into the enclave. He has also faced criticism from Arab-American and Muslim leaders for not calling for a permanent ceasefire in the conflict.
Abed Ayoub, executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said in a statement there “is a desperate need” for measures protecting Palestinians in the US.
“We see the situation in Gaza and Palestine is not getting better, and this is something that is welcome, and we are glad to see it implemented,” Ayoub said.
Gaza health officials say at least 28,500 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since Oct. 7, when Hamas militants killed 1,200 people and took around 250 others hostage during a rampage in southern Israel, according to Israeli tallies.
 

Topics: Joe Biden American Palestinians War on Gaza Gaza Israel-Hamas war

Two more migrant boats reach Canary Islands after deadly sinking

Two more migrant boats reach Canary Islands after deadly sinking
Updated 14 sec ago
Reuters
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Two more migrant boats reach Canary Islands after deadly sinking

Two more migrant boats reach Canary Islands after deadly sinking
  • A makeshift vessel carrying 81 migrants reached Tenerife, the Canaries’ largest island, emergency services said on Sunday evening
Updated 14 sec ago
Reuters
EL HIERRO: Two boats loaded with migrants reached the Canary Islands late on Sunday as rescuers kept searching for 48 missing from an earlier sea wreck that may be the deadliest such accident for 30 years in the Spanish archipelago.
A makeshift vessel carrying 81 migrants reached Tenerife, the Canaries’ largest island, emergency services said on Sunday evening. At least one of the migrants required hospitalization.
Another migrant boat reached the second largest Canary island, Fuerteventura. The emergency services did not specify the number of migrants on that boat. A third boat containing some 80 migrants was nearing the smallest island of El Hierro.
The two crossings followed a disastrous sinking of a migrant boat at the weekend that killed at least nine people and left at least 48 missing, including one under 18 years old, rescue services said. Rescuers were able to pick up 27 of 84 migrants who were trying to reach Spanish shores from West Africa.
The disaster prompted Fernando Clavijo, the Canary Islands’ regional president, to call for mainland Spain and the European Union to act to ease a crisis in which migrant crossings from West Africa to the archipelago have soared by 85 percent this year.
“This situation sadly should push us all to immediately and urgently seek an agreement that allows us to deal with this phenomenon,” Clavijo told reporters.
The number of migrants crossing from West Africa to the Canary Islands, a perilous journey that can be as long as 800 miles (1,300 km), rose between Jan. 1 and Sept. 15 to 26,758, interior ministry data show. Meanwhile, the migrant flow from North Africa along routes in the central and western Mediterranean ebbed, EU Frontex border agency figures indicate.
Calm seas and gentle winds associated with late summer in the Atlantic Ocean off West Africa have prompted a renewed surge of migrants, local authorities said this month.
Earlier this year, Clavijo said his teams expected 70,000 migrants to reach the Spanish archipelago by year end, almost a two-fold rise versus 2023 record arrivals of 39,910.
The rising number of migrants, driven by extreme poverty and political instability in Africa’s Sahel region, is causing political tension in Spain where mainland regions have resisted calls to take in migrants from the Canary Islands.
In the roughly 30 years of migrant crossings from West Africa to the Canaries, the deadliest recorded shipwreck occurred in 2009 off the island of Lanzarote when 25 people died.

Denmark faces EU court questions on housing policy, racism

Denmark faces EU court questions on housing policy, racism
Updated 8 min 19 sec ago
Reuters
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Denmark faces EU court questions on housing policy, racism

Denmark faces EU court questions on housing policy, racism
Updated 8 min 19 sec ago
Reuters

COPENHAGEN: Denmark must answer accusations at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Monday that its policy of demolishing minority-heavy neighbourhoods to promote integration amounts to racial discrimination.
The Nordic country in 2018 introduced what it called a ghetto package, a controversial plan to radically alter certain residential zones, including by tearing down social housing units to disperse residents.
Known for strict immigration policies, Denmark has had relative success in integrating migrants from non-Western countries, with high language proficiency and employment rates, but faced a backlash from those affected by the 2018 plan.
At the core of the case is whether Denmark's use of the term "ethnic origin", often used to describe people of colour when classifying ghetto neighbourhoods, is racially discriminatory.
Denmark defines areas with over 1,000 residents as ghettos if more than 50% are "immigrants and their descendants from non-Western countries", and where at least two other criteria on education, income, crime and work force participation are met.
A dozen residents from Mjolnerparken, a residential area in Copenhagen, first filed a case against Denmark's ministry of social affairs in 2020 after facing eviction.
A Danish court in 2023 requested a preliminary ECJ hearing to determine whether the term "ethnic origin" should be interpreted as including "non-Western" background and, if so, whether this was discriminatory.
Eddie Khawaja, a lawyer for the residents, said the plaintiffs felt stigmatised.
"They feel offended by the fact that in everyday speech, in legislation, in all the political proposals that surround this, they have been referred to as residents of ghetto areas," Khawaja said.
Denmark's ministry of social affairs declined to comment, saying it did not discuss ongoing cases.
Once the ECJ has reached a conclusion, the case will return to the Danish court which will decide how to apply the ruling.

Russia launches waves of drone attacks on Kyiv, Ukraine’s military says

Russia launches waves of drone attacks on Kyiv, Ukraine’s military says
Updated 30 September 2024
Reuters
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Russia launches waves of drone attacks on Kyiv, Ukraine’s military says

Russia launches waves of drone attacks on Kyiv, Ukraine’s military says
  • All the drones that Russia launched at Kyiv were either destroyed by defense systems or neutralized by electronic warfare
Updated 30 September 2024
Reuters

KYIV: Russia launched several waves of drones targeting Kyiv early on Monday, with air defense units successfully defending the city during the attack which lasted over five hours, Ukraine’s military said.
Reuters’ witnesses heard numerous blasts in the Ukrainian capital in what sounded like air defense systems in operation and saw objects being hit in the air.
All the drones that Russia launched at Kyiv were either destroyed by defense systems or neutralized by electronic warfare, Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration said on the Telegram messaging app.
According to preliminary information, there were no casualties and no damage reported, he added. Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said drone debris fell by a residential building with emergency services working on site.
The Ukrainian air force said on Monday that it shot down 67 out of 73 drones and one of three missiles launched by Russia during the attack.
Governor Ruslan Kravchenko reported no damage to critical or residential infrastructure in the region surrounding the capital. He said that the attack caused fires in five districts of the region, but there were no casualties.
Mykolaiv governor Vitaliy Kim said the attack caused a fire at a critical infrastructure facility in the southern region.
Russia has launched multiple air attacks on Kyiv and Ukraine throughout September, targeting Ukraine’s energy, military and transport infrastructure in attacks which have killed dozens of civilians.
Russia denies targeting civilians in the full-scale invasion it called a “special operation” when it was launched in February 2022.

Topics: Russia-Ukraine Conflict Russia Ukraine

Flooding deaths in Nepal reach 193 as recovery work is stepped up

Flooding deaths in Nepal reach 193 as recovery work is stepped up
Updated 30 September 2024
AP
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Flooding deaths in Nepal reach 193 as recovery work is stepped up

Flooding deaths in Nepal reach 193 as recovery work is stepped up
Updated 30 September 2024
AP

Katmandu, Nepal: The number of people killed by flooding and landslides triggered by heavy rainfall over the weekend in Nepal reached 193 while recovery and rescue work stepped up Monday.
Many of the deaths were in the capital, Katmandu, which got heavy rainfall, and much of southern part of the city was flooded. Police said in a statement that 31 people were still reported missing and 96 people were injured across the Himalayan nation.
A landslide killed three dozen people on a blocked highway about 16 kilometers (10 miles) from Katmandu. The landslide buried at least three buses and other vehicles where people were sleeping because the highway was blocked.
Katmandu had remained cut off all weekend as the three highways out of the city were blocked by landslides. Workers were able to temporarily open up the key Prithvi highway, removing rocks, mud and trees that had been washed from the mountains.
The home minister announced temporary shelters would be built for people who lost their homes and monetary help would be available for the families of those killed and to the people who were injured by the flooding and landslides.
Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli was returning home Monday from attending the UN General Assembly meeting and has called an emergency meeting, his office said.
Improved weather has allowed rescue and recovery work to be stepped up.
Residents in the southern part of Katmandu, which was inundated on Saturday, were cleaning up houses as water levels began to recede. At least 34 people were killed in Katmandu, which was the hardest hit by flooding.
Police and soldiers were assisting with rescue efforts, while heavy equipment was used to clear the landslides from the roads. The government announced it was closing schools and colleges across Nepal for the next three days.
The monsoon season began in June and usually ends by mid-September.
Meanwhile, in northern Bangladesh, about 60,000 people were affected by flooding in low-lying areas because of rains and rising water from upstream India.
People have taken shelter on roads and flood protection embankments in Lalmonirhat and Kurigram districts, the English-language Daily Star reported.
The River Teesta that crosses the border was overflowing at some points and the Dharala and Dudhkumar rivers in the Rangpur region were rising but remained below danger levels, the Dhaka-based Flood Forecasting and Warning Center said Monday. Waters could start receding in a day or two, it said.
Bangladesh is a low-lying delta nation crisscrossed by about 230 rivers, including more than 50 that cross borders.

Topics: nepal weather floods

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SpaceX docks at ISS to take stranded astronauts home next year

SpaceX docks at ISS to take stranded astronauts home next year
Updated 30 September 2024
AFP
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SpaceX docks at ISS to take stranded astronauts home next year

SpaceX docks at ISS to take stranded astronauts home next year
Updated 30 September 2024
AFP

WASHINGTON: The SpaceX crew that will ferry back in February two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station docked with the orbiting laboratory on Sunday, a live stream of the mission showed.
The Falcon 9 rocket took off at 1:17 p.m. (1717 GMT) from Cape Canaveral, Florida on Saturday, with the Crew-9 mission aboard a Dragon spacecraft making contact with the ISS at 5:30 p.m. Sunday.
After docking was completed, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov boarded the station just after 7:00 pm, embracing their floating colleagues.
“I just want to say welcome to our new compadres from Dragon Freedom,” said station commander Suni Williams, who is one of the two stranded astronauts.
“Alex, welcome to the International Space Station, and Nick, welcome back home,” she said.
When Hague and Gorbunov return from the space station in February, they will bring back space veterans Williams and Butch Wilmore, whose stay on the ISS was prolonged for months due to problems with their Boeing-designed Starliner spacecraft.
The newly developed Starliner was making its first crewed flight when it delivered Wilmore and Williams to the ISS in June.
They were supposed to be there for only eight days, but after problems with the Starliner’s propulsion system emerged during the flight there, NASA was forced to weigh a radical change in plans.
After weeks of intensive tests on the Starliner’s reliability, the space agency finally decided to return it to Earth without its crew, and to bring the two stranded astronauts back home on SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission.
SpaceX, the private company founded by billionaire Elon Musk, has been flying regular missions every six months to allow the rotation of ISS crews.
But the launch of Crew-9 was postponed from mid-August to late September to give NASA experts more time to evaluate the reliability of the Starliner and decide how to proceed.
It was then delayed a few more days by the destructive passage of Hurricane Helene, a powerful storm that roared into the opposite side of Florida on Thursday.
In total, Hague and Gorbunov will spend some five months on the ISS. Wilmore and Williams will spend eight months there.
Crew-9 will conduct some 200 scientific experiments during their stay.

Topics: SpaceX astronauts ISS

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