Sheikh Hasina's Awami League officially banned as Bangladesh revises terror law
A Home Ministry official stated that, according to the notification, the Awami League and its affiliated organizations were banned under the Anti-Terrorism Act 2025 until the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh (ICT-BD) completes the trials of its leaders and activists.He added that Section 18 of the revised law empowers the government to declare any "entity" or organization, alongside individuals, as terrorist-affiliated based on reasonable grounds.The original Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009 did not contain provisions for banning entities. Must Watch
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Mint
a few seconds ago
- Mint
Trump administration to screen immigrants for ‘anti-American' views
The Trump administration plans to scrutinize social media for 'anti-American ideologies" when deciding to grant visa or green-card applications. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the primary agency in charge of legal immigration, said Tuesday that its officers should give significant weight to evidence that an immigrant 'has any involvement in anti-American or terrorist organizations" when reviewing residency, work and visa applications. When it comes to what registers as anti-American ideology, the updated guidance points to a provision of immigration law dating back to the Cold War that prohibits immigrants from becoming U.S. citizens if they are members of communist or anarchist organizations. It doesn't specify the range of speech the administration would categorize as anti-American. The Department of Homeland Security didn't respond to a request for clarification. 'America's benefits should not be given to those who despise the country and promote anti-American ideologies," USCIS spokesman Matthew Tragesser said Tuesday. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, a national immigrant advocacy group, said relying on broad phrases to determine eligibility to live and work in the U.S. could be problematic. 'The term anti-American is ill-defined and malleable," he said. 'What one person may consider anti-American another person might consider pro-American." The latest directive builds on the agency's April announcement that it would screen immigrants' social media for evidence of antisemitism. As part of that shift, many immigrants, including those applying for tourist or student visas to the U.S., must now submit their social-media handles and make their profiles public for officers to review. It is another step in the Trump administration's goal of not only reducing overall immigration levels, but also in shaping the types of immigrants permitted to come to the country. The administration has also used allegations of anti-American and antisemitic activity against students who have participated in pro-Palestine protests. The administration also tightened citizenship standards last week in a separate policy memorandum that said applicants will need to prove 'good moral character." That includes contributing to the community, having a good education, holding down a job and paying taxes on time, according to Homeland Security. Write to Jack Morphet at Victoria Albert at and Michelle Hackman at
India Today
13 minutes ago
- India Today
US to screen immigration applicants for ‘anti-Americanism,' prompting criticism
Immigrants applying for legal status to live and work in the United States will now be evaluated for signs of 'anti-Americanism,' US authorities announced Tuesday. The change has drawn criticism over concerns that immigration officers may use overly subjective criteria to deny to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), officers will begin assessing whether applicants have 'endorsed, promoted, supported, or otherwise espoused' anti-American, antisemitic, or terrorist ideologies when considering immigration benefits such as green benefits should not be given to those who despise the country and promote anti-American ideologies,' USCIS spokesman Matthew Tragesser said in a statement. 'Immigration benefits—including to live and work in the United States—remain a privilege, not a right.' The agency did not specify what exactly would qualify as anti-Americanism or how the policy would be implemented in Jacobs, director of regulatory affairs and policy at the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for more restrictive immigration policies, said the move signals a lower tolerance for anti-American or antisemitic sentiments in immigration cases.'The message is that the US and immigration agencies are going to be less tolerant of anti-Americanism or antisemitism when making immigration decisions,' Jacobs added that the agency is providing clearer direction on the types of behaviours to consider but emphasised that officers still retain discretion. 'The agency cannot tell officers that they have to deny — just to consider it as a negative discretion,' she WARN OF BIAS, LEGAL RISKS IN NEW IMMIGRATION ASSESSMENTCritics argue the policy risks introducing personal bias into immigration decisions due to vague definitions of what constitutes anti-American views.'For me, the really big story is they are opening the door for stereotypes and prejudice and implicit bias to take the wheel in these decisions. That's really worrisome,' said Jane Lilly Lopez, associate professor of sociology at Brigham Young directive follows other Trump-era immigration changes, including screening applicants' social media and a revised standard for assessing 'good moral character' in naturalisation cases. Under the new approach, applicants must demonstrate not just a lack of misconduct but also evidence of positive traits and contributions.'It means you are going to just do a whole lot more work to provide evidence that you meet our standards,' Lopez is ongoing debate over whether the new policy infringes on constitutional rights, especially around freedom of speech for non-citizens. Jacobs argued that First Amendment protections do not apply to individuals outside the country or those who are not US Ruby Robinson, senior managing attorney at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, disagreed, asserting that constitutional rights, including the Bill of Rights, protect everyone in the US regardless of immigration status. 'A lot of this administration's activities infringe on constitutional rights and do need to be resolved, ultimately, in courts,' Robinson have begun preparing clients for a stricter immigration environment.'People need to understand that we have a different system today and a lot more things that apply to US citizens are not going to apply to somebody who's trying to enter the United States,' said Jaime Diez, an immigration lawyer in Brownsville, Grode, managing partner at Green and Spiegel immigration law firm, said the new guidelines align with the Trump administration's longstanding views on immigration.'This is what was elected. They're allowed to interpret the rules the way they want,' Grode said. 'The policy always to them is to shrink the strike zone. The law is still the same.'- EndsWith inputs from Associated Press
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
INDIA bloc names former SC judge Sudershan Reddy as its VP candidate
NEW DELHI: Dubbing the vice-presidential poll as an "ideological battle" to counter the assault on constitutional values, the joint opposition announced Tuesday former Supreme Court judge B Sudershan Reddy as its candidate to take on NDA's C P Radhakrishnan, underlining that Reddy is a "consistent and courageous champion of social, economic and political justice". Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The opposition, after a meeting at the residence of Congress chief , announced Reddy's candidature to end the suspense. "Reddy... fully reflects the values that shaped our country's freedom movement so profoundly and the values on which our country's Constitution and democracy have been anchored." Reddy as judge protected Constitution: Oppn All the values on which our Constitution has been anchored are under assault and, therefore, our collective and determined resolve to fight this election, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge read out from a joint statement, adding, "B Sudershan Reddy is a pro-poor man, and in many of his judgments... he also protected the Constitution and fundamental rights." Reddy was welcomed at Delhi airport by an opposition delegation in the evening. Opposition MPs will meet in Parliament's Central Hall Wednesday, while Reddy will file his nomination on Thursday. Source said at the meeting attended by K C Venugopal, Sharad Pawar (NCP-SP), M A Baby (CPM), Derek O'Brien (TMC), Kanimozhi (DMK), Sandosh Kumar (CPI), Dharmendra Yadav (SP), N K Premachandran (RSP), Sanjay Raut (Sena UBT), Rajaram Singh (CPI-ML) among others, Kharge merely announced the candidate's name, which was finalised during the discussions with allies through interlocutors Kharge, Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh late on Monday. The meeting on Monday remained inconclusive after DMK's nominee Mylswami Annadurai was objected to by TMC, which argued that the VP polls could not become a local Tamil Nadu affair, alluding to BJP's choice of C P Radhakrishnan. DMK did not press for it, sources said, in the interest of unity. But since the Trinamool brass was insistent on a non-political person, Congress is said to have recommended Reddy citing his judicial past and his strong social justice credentials. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Sources said, none of the parties took a hard line on any issue to ensure that the rare unity in the anti-BJP axis was not broken. Kharge said, "Whenever democracy and the Constitution are under attack, opposition parties unite to fight against it. " CPI MP Sandosh Kumar said Reddy's nomination is an assertion that "defence of the Constitution and democratic values is non-negotiable", underlining Reddy is "an eminent jurist whose record in upholding human rights and civil liberties is impeccable". AICC data analytics department chairman Praveen Chakravarty posted photographs of working with Reddy, who was chairman of the expert group on Telangana caste survey that concluded recently. The opposition choice is also a political trap for Andhra-Telangana parties aligned with BJP, as opposition will try to embarrass YSRCP and TDP who are supporting Radhakrishnan. At the same time, BJP's Telangana MPs will have to manage a tightrope as "Reddy is a known name in the state". It is the same issue of optics that BJP through Radhakrishnan is seeking to foist on DMK, which is in the opposition camp.
