A million more Afghans could be sent back from Iran, Red Cross warns

A million more Afghans could be sent back from Iran, Red Cross warns
Afghan refugees arrive from Iran at Islam Qala border between Afghanistan and Iran, on July 5, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 08 July 2025
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A million more Afghans could be sent back from Iran, Red Cross warns

A million more Afghans could be sent back from Iran, Red Cross warns
  • Over 1.2 million people have been returned to Afghanistan from Iran since the start of this year
  • Aid groups worry that the new arrivals from Iran risks further destabilizing the country

GENEVA: The Red Cross said on Tuesday it is bracing for another 1 million people to be sent back from Iran to Afghanistan amid mass deportations that humanitarians say are placing a heavy strain on the aid system. Over 1.2 million people have been returned to Afghanistan from Iran since the start of this year, according to data from the UN refugee agency, with the number of returns surging since Iran and Israel launched strikes on each other last month.

Sami Fakhouri, Head of Delegation for Afghanistan at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said he witnessed busloads of people returning to a border crossing at the Islam Qala border in Herat province in recent days.

“(We) are anticipating that an additional one million people, possibly more, may return from Iran to Afghanistan by the end of this year,” he told reporters at a Geneva press briefing, voicing concern about their futures with many having left their home country years ago and were now homeless.

“The majority didn’t have a say in coming back. They were put on buses and driven to the border,” he said.

Afghanistan is already battling a humanitarian crisis and aid groups worry that the new arrivals from Iran – on top of hundreds of thousands pressured to return from Pakistan – risks further destabilizing the country.

Fakhouri said the IFRC appeal for 25 million Swiss francs ($31.40 million) to help returning Afghans at the border and in transit camps is only 10 percent funded, voicing concerns about whether it could maintain support for people.

Babar Baloch, a spokesperson at the UN refugee agency, said tens of thousands were arriving from Iran daily with over 50,000 crossing on July 4.

He also voiced concerns about family separations.

“The psychological scars are going to stay with Afghans who have been made to come back to the country in this way,” he said at the same press briefing.


Chinese coast guard rams and damages a Philippine vessel off an island in the South China Sea

Chinese coast guard rams and damages a Philippine vessel off an island in the South China Sea
Updated 13 October 2025
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Chinese coast guard rams and damages a Philippine vessel off an island in the South China Sea

Chinese coast guard rams and damages a Philippine vessel off an island in the South China Sea
  • Video shared by the Philippine coast guard shows a Chinese coast guard ship firing a water cannon, hitting the vessel and its two Philippine flags
  • Chinese coast guard accused the Philippine vessels of illegally entering what it called Chinese waters near a cluster of sandbars known as Sandy Cay
  • US condemned “China’s aggressive actions in defiance of international law” and expressed support for the Philippines, a close Asian treaty ally

MANILA, Philippines: A Chinese coast guard ship used a powerful water cannon on Sunday then rammed and slightly damaged an anchored Philippine government vessel off an island inhabited by Filipinos in the disputed South China Sea, the Philippine Coast Guard said.

There were no injuries among Filipino crewmen of the BRP Datu Pagbuaya, part of the fisheries fleet that provides support to Filipino fishermen. The Chinese coast guard targeted Pagbuaya off the Philippines-occupied Thitu island in the latest flare-up of the long-simmering territorial disputes involving Manila, Beijing and four other governments.

The Chinese coast guard accused the Philippine vessels of illegally entering what it called Chinese waters near a cluster of sandbars known as Sandy Cay, which lies between Thitu and China’s artificial island base called Subi and “ignoring repeated stern warnings from the Chinese side.” It said it “took control measures against the Philippine vessels in accordance with the law and resolutely drove them away.”

China has repeatedly restated its sovereignty and control over virtually the entire South China Sea, a major trade route, despite a 2016 arbitration ruling that invalidated its historic claims. That ruling has been rejected by China but supported by the United States and its Western and Asian allies, including Japan, Australia, the European Union and Canada.

The US immediately condemned “China’s aggressive actions in defiance of international law” and expressed support for the Philippines, a close Asian treaty ally. US Ambassador to Manila MaryKay Carlson praised the Filipino personnel involved in the incident for their “tremendous valor and skill in the face of China’s dangerous ramming and use of water cannons.”

Pagbuaya and two other Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources vessels were anchored in the territorial waters off Thitu, called Pag-asa by the Philippines, when Chinese coast guard and suspected militia ships suddenly approached and staged “dangerous and provocative maneuvers,” the Philippine coast guard spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela said in a statement. He added that such aggression would not prompt Manila to “surrender a square inch of our territory to any foreign power.”

A Chinese coast guard ship with bow number 21559 “fired its water cannon directly at the BRP Datu Pagbuaya, hitting the vessel,” then rammed the stern of the Philippine fisheries vessel three minutes later, causing “minor structural damage but no injuries to the crew.”

Video issued by the Philippine coast guard shows a Chinese coast guard ship firing a water cannon, hitting the vessel and its two Philippine flags. The Filipino-manned ship is seen moving away from the Chinese coast guard ship.

“Despite these bullying tactics and aggressive actions, the Philippine coast guard and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources remain resolute,” Tarriela said. “We will not be intimidated or driven away.”

In Beijing, Chinese coast guard spokesperson Liu Dejun said in a statement the two Philippine vessels illegally entered waters near Sandy Cay, which China calls Tiexian Reef, “without the permission of the Chinese government.” One dangerously approached the Chinese Coast Guard vessel, causing a scrape, he said.

The responsibility rests entirely with the Philippine side, Liu said, accusing the Philippines of undermining the peace and stability in the South China Sea and ”sternly warned” the Southeast Asian country “to immediately stop infringement and harassment.”

“The harassment we faced today only strengthens our resolve,” Philippine coast guard commandant Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan said. “Filipino fisherfolk depend on these waters and neither water cannons nor ramming will deter us from fulfilling our commitment to Pres. Ferdinand Marcos to not surrender a square inch of our territory to any foreign power.”

Thitu is the largest of nine islands, islets and reefs inhabited by Philippine forces and also has a fishing community in the Spratlys archipelago, the most fiercely disputed region of the South China Sea, where China turned seven barren reefs into island bases protected by a missile system. Three of the artificial islands have runways, including Subi, which lies just more than 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Thitu, which China also claims.


Ghana boat capsize kills 15, mostly children: authorities

A specialized investigation team, including naval personnel, was deployed to determine the cause. (AFP)
A specialized investigation team, including naval personnel, was deployed to determine the cause. (AFP)
Updated 13 October 2025
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Ghana boat capsize kills 15, mostly children: authorities

A specialized investigation team, including naval personnel, was deployed to determine the cause. (AFP)
  • The children and other victims, aged up to 64, were traveling from Okuma to Bovime when their vessel overturned, it added

ACCRA: A boat capsized on a lake in northeastern Ghana, killing 15 people, mostly children, maritime authorities said on Sunday.

“Tragically, 11 of the deceased were children between the ages of two and 14 years (five males and six females)” in the incident that took place Saturday on Lake Volta in the Krachi West District of the Oti Region, the Ghana Maritime Authority said in a statement.

The children and other victims, aged up to 64, were traveling from Okuma to Bovime when their vessel overturned, it added.

Four adults survived, the statement said, describing the accident as “a critical and unacceptable breach of safety standards.”

Preliminary findings suggested the boat was overloaded, the authority said.

A specialized investigation team, including naval personnel, was deployed to determine the cause.

The authority added that it would set up a high-level investigation committee with the transport ministry and launch a “sustained lakeside safety enforcement operation” to ensure compliance with passenger limits and life jacket rules.

Boat disasters are common on Lake Volta, often caused by overloading and collisions with tree stumps.

In August, six passengers died in a similar incident. In May 2023, 18 people were killed after their boat struck a submerged tree stump.

The GMA said it “remains resolute in unraveling the root causes of this disaster and implementing measures to ensure that no such tragedy ever occurs again.”

 

 


Trump warns Russia he may send Ukraine long-range Tomahawks if Moscow doesn’t settle war soon

Trump warns Russia he may send Ukraine long-range Tomahawks if Moscow doesn’t settle war soon
Updated 17 min 4 sec ago
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Trump warns Russia he may send Ukraine long-range Tomahawks if Moscow doesn’t settle war soon

Trump warns Russia he may send Ukraine long-range Tomahawks if Moscow doesn’t settle war soon
  • Warning followed Russia's attack on Ukraine’s power grid overnight, part of a campaign to cripple Ukrainian energy infrastructure before winter
  • Putin said earlier this month that any supply of such missiles to Ukraine would trigger a “qualitatively new stage of escalation”

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE: President Donald Trump on Sunday warned Russia that he may send Ukraine long-range Tomahawk missiles if Moscow doesn’t settle its war there soon — suggesting that he could be ready to increase the pressure on Vladimir Putin’s government using a key weapons system.

“I might say, ‘Look: if this war is not going to get settled, I’m going to send them Tomahawks,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew to Israel. “The Tomahawk is an incredible weapon, very offensive weapon. And honestly, Russia does not need that.”

Trump said, “I might tell them that if the war is not settled — that we may very well.” He added, “We may not, but we may do it. I think it’s appropriate to bring up.”

His comments came after Trump spoke by phone earlier Sunday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and Trump said he mentioned possibly sending Tomahawks during that conversation.

“Do they want to have Tomahawks going in that direction? I don’t think so,” Trump said of Russia. “I think I might speak to Russia about that.” He added that “Tomahawks are a new step of aggression.”

His suggestions followed Russia having attacked Ukraine’s power grid overnight, part of an ongoing campaign to cripple Ukrainian energy infrastructure before winter. Moscow also expressed “extreme concern” over the US potentially providing Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine.

Putin himself has previously suggested that the United States supplying long-range missiles to Ukraine will seriously damage relations between Moscow and Washington.

For his part, Zelensky described his latest call with Trump as “very productive,” and said the pair had discussed strengthening Ukraine’s “air defense, resilience, and long-range capabilities,” along with “details related to the energy sector.”

Trump in recent weeks has taken a notably tougher tact with Putin, after the Russian leader has declined to engage in direct talks with Zelensky about easing fighting.

Zelensky said Ukraine would only use Tomahawk missiles for military purposes and not attack civilians in Russia, should the US provide them. “We never attacked their civilians. This is the big difference between Ukraine and Russia,” the Ukrainian leader said on the Fox News “Sunday Briefing” program. “That’s why, if we speak about long-range (missiles), we speak only about military goals.”

The Ukrainian leader said they are still discussing the possibility that Washington might provide Kyiv with the long-range missiles. Trump said last week that before agreeing to provide Tomahawks he wants to know how Ukraine would use them because he does not want to escalate the war between Russia and Ukraine. Zelensky said he was still working on trying to convince Trump to approve a missile deal.

“We count on such decisions, but we’ll see,” Zelensky said.

Last month, Trump announced that he now believes Ukraine could win back all the territory lost to Russia — a dramatic shift from the Republican’s repeated calls for Kyiv to make concessions to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

But the US president, at least so far, has resisted Zelensky’s calls for Tomahawks. The weapon system would allow Ukraine to strike deeper into Russian territory and put the sort of pressure on Putin that Zelensky argues is needed to get the Russians to seriously engage in peace talks.

Trump said aboard Air Force One of the war: “I really think Putin would look great if he got this settled” and that “It’s not going to be good for him” if not.

Tomahawk missiles have a range of 2,500 km (1,550 miles), long enough to strike deep inside Russia, including Moscow. The Kremlin has warned against any provision of Tomahawks to Ukraine.

Putin said earlier this month that it was impossible to use Tomahawks without the direct participation of US military personnel and so any supply of such missiles to Ukraine would trigger a “qualitatively new stage of escalation.”

Still, Zelensky, in a Sunday evening address in Ukraine, said he saw Russia’s concerns as reason to press forward.

“We see and hear that Russia is afraid that the Americans may give us Tomahawks — that this kind of pressure may work for peace,” Zelensky said.

The war in Ukraine is Europe’s deadliest since World War II, and Russian officials say they are now in a “hot” conflict with the West. Putin portrays it as a watershed moment in Moscow’s relations with the West, which he says humiliated Russia after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union by enlarging NATO and encroaching on what he considers Moscow’s sphere of influence, including Ukraine and Georgia.

Ukraine and its allies have cast it as an imperial-style land grab and have repeatedly vowed to defeat Russian forces.

 


Russia attacks Ukraine’s power grid as Moscow worries over US Tomahawk missiles

Russia attacks Ukraine’s power grid as Moscow worries over US Tomahawk missiles
Updated 12 October 2025
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Russia attacks Ukraine’s power grid as Moscow worries over US Tomahawk missiles

Russia attacks Ukraine’s power grid as Moscow worries over US Tomahawk missiles
  • Kyiv regional governor said two employees of Ukraine’s largest private energy company were wounded in the strikes
  • Zelenskyy said Russia had launched “more than 3,100 drones, 92 missiles, and around 1,360 glide bombs” over the past week

Russia attacked Ukraine’s power grid overnight, part of an ongoing campaign to cripple Ukrainian energy infrastructure before winter, and expressed “extreme concern” over the US potentially providing Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine.

Kyiv regional Gov. Mykola Kalashnyk said two employees of Ukraine’s largest private energy company DTEK were wounded in Russian strikes on a substation. Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said that infrastructure was also targeted in the regions of Donetsk, Odesa and Chernihiv.

“Russia continues its aerial terror against our cities and communities, intensifying strikes on our energy infrastructure,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X, noting that Russia had launched “more than 3,100 drones, 92 missiles, and around 1,360 glide bombs” over the past week.

Zelensky called for tighter secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian oil. “Sanctions, tariffs, and joint actions against the buyers of Russian oil — those who finance this war — must all remain on the table,” he wrote, adding he had a “very productive” phone call with US President Donald Trump, in which they discussed strengthening Ukraine’s “air defense, resilience, and long-range capabilities,” along with “details related to the energy sector.”

Their discussion followed an earlier conversation on Saturday, Zelensky said, during which the leaders agreed on Sunday’s topics.

In an interview with Fox News Channel’s “The Sunday Briefing” after his call with Trump, Zelensky was asked whether Trump had approved the Tomahawks.

“We work on it,” he said. “And I’m waiting for president to yes. Of course we count on such decisions, but we will see. We will see.”

Zelensky said Friday that he was in talks with US officials about the possible provision of various long-range precision strike weapons, including Tomahawks and more ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles.

Trump, who has been frustrated by Russia in his efforts to end the war, said last week that he has “sort of made a decision” on whether to send Tomahawks to Ukraine, without elaborating. A senior Ukrainian delegation is set to visit the US this week.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in remarks published Sunday that “the topic of Tomahawks is of extreme concern.”

“Now is really a very dramatic moment in terms of the fact that tensions are escalating from all sides,” he told Russian state television reporter Pavel Zarubin.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, also said in comments released Sunday that he doubts the US will provide Ukraine with Tomahawk cruise missiles.

“I think we need to calm down in this regard. Our friend Donald … sometimes he takes a more forceful approach, and then, his tactic is to let go a little and step back. Therefore, we shouldn’t take this literally, as if it’s going to fly tomorrow,” Lukashenko told Zarubin, who posted them on his Telegram channel on Sunday.

Ukraine’s energy sector has been a key battleground since Russia launched its all-out invasion more than three years ago.

The latest attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid came after Russian drone and missile strikes wounded at least 20 people in Kyiv, damaged residential buildings and caused blackouts across the country Friday, which Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko described as “one of the largest concentrated strikes” against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

Each year, Russia has tried to cripple the Ukrainian power grid before the bitter winter season, apparently hoping to erode public morale. Winter temperatures run from late October through March, with January and February the coldest months.

Ukraine’s air force said Saturday that its air defenses intercepted or jammed 103 of 118 Russian drones launched against Ukraine overnight, while Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had shot down 32 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory.


Feeling hopeless in custody, many drop claims to remain in the US, leave voluntarily

Feeling hopeless in custody, many drop claims to remain in the US, leave voluntarily
Updated 12 October 2025
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Feeling hopeless in custody, many drop claims to remain in the US, leave voluntarily

Feeling hopeless in custody, many drop claims to remain in the US, leave voluntarily
  • His case is an exemplar of the impact of the Trump administration’s aggressive efforts to deport millions of migrants on an accelerated timetable, casting aside years of procedure and legal process in favor of expedient results

SEATTLE: Ramón Rodriguez Vazquez was a farmworker for 16 years in southeast Washington state, where he and his wife of 40 years raised four children and 10 grandchildren. The 62-year-old was a part of a tight-knit community and never committed a crime.

On Feb. 5, immigration officers who came to his house looking for someone else took him into custody. He was denied bond, despite letters of support from friends, family, his employer and a physician who said the family needed him.

He was sent to a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Tacoma, Washington, where his health rapidly declined in part because he was not always provided with his prescription medication for several medical conditions, including high blood pressure. Then there was the emotional toll of being unable to care for his family or sick granddaughter. Overwhelmed by it all, he finally gave up.

At an appearance with an immigration judge, he asked to leave without a formal deportation mark on his record. The judge granted his request and he moved back to Mexico, alone.

His case is an exemplar of the impact of the Trump administration’s aggressive efforts to deport millions of migrants on an accelerated timetable, casting aside years of procedure and legal process in favor of expedient results.

Similar dramas are playing out at immigration courts across the country, accelerating since early July, when ICE began opposing bond for anyone detained regardless of their circumstances.

“He was the head of the house, everything — the one who took care of everything,” said Gloria Guizar, 58, Rodriguez’s wife. “Being separated from the family has been so hard. Even though our kids are grown, and we’ve got grandkids, everybody misses him.”

Leaving the country was unthinkable before he was held in a jail cell. The deportation process broke him.

‘Self deport or we will deport you’

It is impossible to know how many people left the US voluntarily since President Donald Trump took office in January because many leave without telling authorities. But Trump and his allies are counting on “self-deportation,” the idea that life can be made unbearable enough to make people leave voluntarily.

The Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees immigration courts, said judges granted “voluntary departure” in 15,241 cases in the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30, allowing them to leave without a formal deportation mark on their record or bar to re-entry. That compares with 8,663 voluntary departures for the previous fiscal year.

ICE said it carried out 319,980 deportations from Oct. 1, 2024 to Sept. 20. Customs and Border Protection declined to disclose its number and directed the question to the Department of Homeland Security.

Secretary Kristi Noem said in August that 1.6 million people have left the country voluntarily or involuntarily since Trump took office. The department cited a study by the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that advocates for immigration restrictions.

Michelle Mittelstadt, spokesperson for the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, said 1.6 million is an over-inflated number that misuses the Census Bureau data.

The administration is offering $1,000 to people who leave voluntarily using the CBP Home app. For those who don’t, there is a looming threat of being sent to a third country like Eswatini, Rwanda, South Sudan or Uganda,.

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the voluntary departures show that the administration’s strategy is working, and is keeping the country safe.

“Ramped-up immigration enforcement targeting the worst of the worst is removing more and more criminal illegal aliens off our streets every day and is sending a clear message to anyone else in this country illegally: Self-deport or we will arrest and deport you,” she said in a statement sent to The Associated Press.

“They treat her like a criminal”

A Colombian woman dropped her asylum claim at a June appearance in a Seattle immigration court, even though she was not in custody.

“Your lawyer says you no longer wish to proceed with your asylum application,” the judge said. “Has anyone offered you money to do this?” he asked. “No, sir,” she replied. Her request was granted.

Her US citizen girlfriend of two years, Arleene Adrono, said she planned to leave the country as well.

“They treat her like a criminal. She’s not a criminal,” Adrono said. “I don’t want to live in a country that does this to people.”

At an immigration court inside the Tacoma detention center, where posters encourage migrants to leave voluntarily or be forcibly deported, a Venezuelan man told Judge Theresa Scala in August that he wanted to leave. The judge granted voluntary departure.

The judge asked another man if he wanted more time to find a lawyer and if he was afraid to return to Mexico. “I want to leave the country,” the man responded.

“The court finds you’ve given up all forms of relief,” Scala said. “You must comply with the government efforts to remove you.”

“His absence has been deeply felt”

Ramón Rodriguez crossed the US border in 2009. His eight siblings who are US citizens lived in California, but he settled Washington state. Grandview, population 11,000, is an agricultural town that grows apples, cherries, wine grapes, asparagus and other fruit and vegetables.

Rodriguez began working for AG Management in 2014. His tax records show he made $13,406 that first year and by 2024, earned $46,599 and paid $4,447 in taxes.

“During his time with us, he has been an essential part of our team, demonstrating dedication, reliability, and a strong work ethic,” his boss wrote in a letter urging a judge to release him from custody. “His skills in harvesting, planting, irrigation, and equipment operation have contributed significantly to our operations, and his absence has been deeply felt.”

His granddaughter suffers from a heart problem, has undergone two surgeries and needs a third. Her mother doesn’t drive so Rodriguez transported the girl to Spokane for care. The child’s pediatrician wrote a letter to the immigration judge encouraging his release, saying without his help, the girl might not get the medical care she needs.

The judge denied his bond request in March. Rodriguez appealed and became the lead plaintiff in a federal lawsuit that sought to allow detained immigrants to request and receive bond.

On September 30, a federal judge ruled that denying bond hearings for migrants is unlawful. But Rodriguez won’t benefit from the ruling. He’s gone now and is unlikely to come back.