logo
Germany deports 81 Afghan nationals to their homeland in 2nd flight since the Taliban's return

Germany deports 81 Afghan nationals to their homeland in 2nd flight since the Taliban's return

Toronto Star3 days ago
BERLIN (AP) — Germany deported dozens of Afghan men to their homeland on Friday, the second time it has done so since the Taliban returned to power and the first since a new government pledging a tougher line on migration took office in Berlin.
German authorities said a flight took off Friday morning carrying 81 Afghans, all of them men who had previously come to judicial authorities' attention and had had asylum applications rejected.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Zohran Mamdani visiting Uganda during NYC mayoral campaign
Zohran Mamdani visiting Uganda during NYC mayoral campaign

Winnipeg Free Press

time21 minutes ago

  • Winnipeg Free Press

Zohran Mamdani visiting Uganda during NYC mayoral campaign

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani is visiting his native country of Uganda to celebrate his recent marriage, taking a short break from the campaign trail ahead of the November election. Mamdani announced the visit in a video posted to social media on Sunday and said he would return to the city by the end of July. The trip comes as Mamdani, a 33-year-old member of the state Assembly, is facing a crowded field of opponents in the city's general election, including former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who are both running as independent candidates. In his video, Mamdani joked that he had decided to heed the 'consistent advice' of some of his critics online who have told him to return to Africa, showing a screen full of posts that called for him to leave the U.S. 'I hear you, and I agree: I'm going back to Uganda,' he said. 'I'm headed there in a personal capacity to celebrate Rama and I's marriage with our family and friends.' 'But I do want to apologize to the haters, because I will be coming back,' Mamdani added. Mamdani announced his marriage to Rama Duwaji, an animator and illustrator, earlier this year. He was born in Kampala, Uganda to Indian parents and moved to New York when he was 7, becoming naturalized as an American citizen in 2018. Mamdani defeated Cuomo in the city's Democratic primary election but Cuomo later relaunched his campaign to run as an independent candidate. Adams is a Democrat but skipped this primary to instead run as an independent because of the political fallout over his now-dismissed federal corruption case. Jim Walden, a former prosecutor, is also running as an independent. Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the anti-crime Guardian Angels patrol group, is running on the Republican line.

UN ‘concerned' as Afghan women arrested over Taliban dress code
UN ‘concerned' as Afghan women arrested over Taliban dress code

CTV News

timean hour ago

  • CTV News

UN ‘concerned' as Afghan women arrested over Taliban dress code

A Taliban fighter stands guard in a market ahead of Eid al-Adha, or "Feast of the Sacrifice", in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, June 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi) The United Nations expressed its 'concern' on Monday over a series of arrests of Afghan women in the capital Kabul who were accused of breaching the Taliban government's strict dress code, with officials denying such detentions. Since their return to power in 2021, the Taliban authorities have imposed a severe interpretation of Islamic law and require all women to be covered from head to toe. The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said it was 'concerned by the arrest of numerous women & girls in Kabul between 16-19 July due to their alleged non-compliance with the de facto authorities' hijab instructions'. 'These incidents serve to further isolate women and girls, contribute to a climate of fear, and erode public trust,' the agency wrote on X, adding that they had contacted the authorities about the matter. A witness told AFP last week that while driving in central Kabul, he saw a unit of the Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (PVPV) 'telling two women to go with them in the car'. The women were wearing flowing abaya robes and wearing make-up. They resisted getting into the vehicle but were forced to do so by a PVPV official who was holding a gun, the witness said on condition of anonymity. The Taliban authorities denied the arrests and said they have 'only campaigned for (the) hijab' dress code. 'But there's nothing like arresting someone or taking anyone to jail,' PVPV spokesman Saiful Islam Khyber told AFP. Over the past four years, women have been progressively isolated by the Taliban authorities, which have banned them from universities, public parks, gyms and beauty salons, in what the UN has denounced as 'gender apartheid'. The Taliban government says that their interpretation of Islamic law 'guarantees' everyone's rights and that allegations of discrimination are 'unfounded'. On Monday, UNAMA called on the Taliban authorities 'to rescind policies and practices that restrict women and girls' human rights and fundamental freedoms'.

5 years after Ohio's $60M bribery scandal, critics say more could be done to prevent a repeat
5 years after Ohio's $60M bribery scandal, critics say more could be done to prevent a repeat

Winnipeg Free Press

timean hour ago

  • Winnipeg Free Press

5 years after Ohio's $60M bribery scandal, critics say more could be done to prevent a repeat

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Five years after a $60 million bribery scheme funded by FirstEnergy Corp. came to light in Ohio, expert observers say the resulting prosecutions, lawsuits, penalties and legislation haven't led to enough change and accountability to prevent politicians and corporate executives from cutting similar deals in the future. The scheme — whose prospective $2 billion-plus pricetag to consumers make it the largest infrastructure scandal in U.S. history — surfaced with the stunning arrests of a powerful Republican state lawmaker and four associates on July 21, 2020. That lawmaker, former House Speaker Larry Householder, is serving 20 years in federal prison for masterminding the racketeering operation at the center of the scandal. Jurors agreed with prosecutors that money that changed hands wasn't everyday political giving, but an elaborate secret scheme orchestrated by Householder to elect political allies, become the House speaker, pass a $1 billion nuclear bailout law in House Bill 6 and crush a repeal effort. One of the dark money groups Householder used also pleaded guilty to racketeering. Householder and a former lobbyist have unsuccessfully challenged their convictions. Two of the arrested associates pleaded guilty, and the other died by suicide. Dark money keeps flowing Any hope that the convictions would have clarified federal law around 501(c)4 nonprofit 'dark money' groups or prompted new restrictions on those hasn't materialized, said former U.S. Attorney David DeVillers, who led the initial investigation. 'I think it's actually worse than it was before,' he said. 'Nationally, you have both Democrats and Republicans using these, so there's no political will to do anything about it.' Indeed, a study released in May by the Brennan Center for Justice found that dark money unleashed by the 2010 Citizens United decision hit a record high of $1.9 billion in 2024 federal races, nearly double the $1 billion spent in 2020. The vast majority of money from undisclosed donors raised into dark money accounts now goes to super PACs, providing them a way to skirt a requirement that they make their donors public, the study found. DeVillers said one positive result of the scandal is that Ohio lawmakers appear genuinely concerned about avoiding quid pro quos, real or perceived, between them and their political contributors. Anti-corruption legislation perennially introduced by Ohio Democrats since the scandal broke has gone nowhere in the GOP-dominated Legislature. Republican legislative leaders have said it is outside their authority to amend federal campaign finance law. The U.S. Attorney's office declined to discuss the investigation because prosecutions remain ongoing. Two fired FirstEnergy executives have pleaded not guilty on related state and federal charges and await trial. Former Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Chairman Samuel Randazzo, to whom FirstEnergy admitted giving a $4.3 million bribe in exchange for regulatory favors, had faced both federal and state charges. He died by suicide after pleading not guilty. State regulator hasn't penalized FirstEnergy Akron-based FirstEnergy — a $23 billion Fortune 500 company with 6 million customers in five states — admitted using dark money groups to bankroll Householder's ascendance in exchange for passage of the bailout bill. It agreed to pay $230 million and meet other conditions to avoid prosecution, and faced other sanctions, including a $100 million civil penalty by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. But FirstEnergy hasn't yet faced consequences from the state regulator. 'They never actually got penalized by regulators at the PUCO level,' said Ohio Consumers' Counsel Maureen Willis, the lawyer for Ohio utility customers. Testimony in four PUCO proceedings stemming from the scandal finally began last month after the cases were delayed for nearly two years, in part at the request of the Justice Department. They're intended to determine whether FirstEnergy used money for bribes that was meant for grid modernization and whether it improperly comingled money from its different corporate entities. FirstEnergy spokeperson Jennifer Young said it invested $4 billion in grid upgrades in 2024 and plans to spend a total of $28 billion through 2029. Young said FirstEnergy has redesigned its organizational structure, established a dedicated ethics and compliance office, overhauled the company's political activity and lobbying practices and strengthened other corporate governance and oversight practices. 'FirstEnergy is a far different company today than it was five years ago,' she said. The PUCO also made changes in response to the scandal. Chair Jenifer French told state lawmakers that ethics training has been enhanced, staff lawyers and the administrative law judges who hear cases now report to different directors to ensure legal independence, and she never takes a meeting alone. Some tainted money hasn't been returned to customers Ashley Brown, a retired executive director of the Harvard Electricity Policy Group who previously served as a PUCO commissioner, said the commission is the only state entity with the power to order FirstEnergy to return tainted cash — including the bribe money — to customers. That largely hasn't happened. He said the Ohio commission had vast power to hold FirstEnergy accountable for its misdeeds but hasn't conducted its own management audit of the energy giant, demanded an overhaul of FirstEnergy's corporate board or pressed for public release of FirstEnergy's own internal investigation of the scandal, whose findings remain a mystery. Shareholders won some accountability measures as part of a $180 million settlement in 2022, but they continue to fight in court for release of the investigation. Willis does, too. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. 'How do you allow a utility to operate a vast criminal conspiracy within the utility (with) consumer dollars, and you don't even look at what went wrong?' Brown said. PUCO spokesperson Matt Schilling reiterated that the commission's probes are ongoing. He said the panel has vowed to take its proceedings 'wherever the facts lead.' The portion of HB 6 that bailed out two FirstEnergy-affiliated nuclear plants was repealed in 2021, and $26 million was refunded to customers. The scandal investigation revealed that other power distribution companies got a lucrative payout of their own added to the bill in exchange for their buy-in: subsidies for two unprofitable Cold War-era coal plants. It wasn't until April that a law was passed repealing those subsidies. Until that takes effect Aug. 14, the charges cost Ohio ratepayers $445,679 a day — and it's unclear if or when they'll get that money back. A ticker on Willis' website puts the total they've paid at more than $500 million and counting.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store