Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders to headline signature South Carolina GOP event
Rep. Sheri Biggs of South Carolina's 3rd District told The Associated Press that Sanders would be the featured speaker at her Salute to Liberty, slated to take place Aug. 18 in Anderson. In an interview last week, Biggs said she felt the governor 'represents what the people in the 3rd District believe in, our morals, just down-to-earth hardworking people that love the Lord and want to live in peace with their families and uphold our conservative values.'
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Toronto Star
an hour ago
- Toronto Star
Pakistan resumes forced expulsions of 1.4 million Afghan refugees despite UN concerns
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Authorities in Pakistan have resumed the forced deportations of Afghan refugees after the federal government declined to extend a key deadline for their stay, officials said Monday. The decision affects approximately 1.4 million Afghans holding Proof of Registration cards, whose legal status expired at the end of June. Many had hoped for a one-year extension to settle personal affairs, such as selling property or concluding business, before returning to Afghanistan.
Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Pakistan resumes forced expulsions of 1.4 million Afghan refugees despite UN concerns
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Authorities in Pakistan have resumed the forced deportations of Afghan refugees after the federal government declined to extend a key deadline for their stay, officials said Monday. The decision affects approximately 1.4 million Afghans holding Proof of Registration cards, whose legal status expired at the end of June. Many had hoped for a one-year extension to settle personal affairs, such as selling property or concluding business, before returning to Afghanistan. In addition to PoR card holders, around 800,000 Afghans hold Afghan Citizen Cards. Police say they also are living in the country illegally and being detained prior to deportations in the eastern Punjab, southwestern Balochistan and southern Sindh province. Monday's decision drew criticism from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the U.N. refugee agency. At least 1.2 million Afghans have been forced to return from Iran and Pakistan this year, according to a June UNHCR report. Repatriations on such a massive scale have the potential to destabilize the fragile situation in Afghanistan, where the Taliban government came into power in 2021. A July 31 government notification seen by The Associated Press confirms Pakistan's decision to repatriate all Afghan nationals holding expired PoR cards. It states Afghans without valid passports and Pakistani visas are in the country illegally and must return to their homeland under Pakistani immigration laws. Police across Pakistan are detaining Afghans to transport them to border crossings, according to two government and security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. They said there are no mass arrests and police were told to go to house-to-house and make random checks to detain foreigners living in the country illegally. 'Yes, the Afghan refugees living in Pakistan illegally are being sent back in a dignified way,' said Shakeel Khan, commissioner for Afghan refugees in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The latest operation is the most significant step yet under orders from federal government in Islamabad, he said. Rehmat Ullah, 35, an Afghan, said his family migrated to Pakistan's northwestern Peshawar city decades ago and now is preparing to return home. 'I have five children and my concern is that they will miss their education,' he said. 'I was born here, my children were born here and now we are going back,' he said. Millions have fled to Pakistan over the past four decades to escape war, political unrest and economic hardship. The renewed deportation drive follows a nationwide crackdown launched in 2023 targeting foreigners living illegally in Pakistan. The Interior Ministry, which oversees the campaign, did not immediately comment. Qaiser Khan Afridi, a spokesperson for the U.N. refugee agency, expressed deep concern over the government's recent actions. 'Sending people back in this manner is tantamount to refoulement and a breach of a state's international obligations,' Afridi said in a statement, urging Pakistan to adopt a 'humane approach to ensure voluntary, gradual, and dignified return of Afghans' and praised the country for hosting millions of Afghan refugees for more than 40 years. 'We call on the government to halt the forcible return and ensure a gradual, voluntary and dignified repatriation process,' Afridi said. 'Such massive and hasty return could jeopardize the lives and freedom of Afghan refugees, while also risking instability not only in Afghanistan but across the region.'
Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Trial begins for suspects in 2024 Moscow concert hall attack that killed 149 people
MOSCOW (AP) — A trial began Monday under tight security for 19 defendants accused of involvement in last year's shooting rampage in a Moscow concert hall that killed 149 people and wounded over 600 in one of the deadliest attacks in the capital in years. A faction of the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the March 22, 2024, massacre at the Crocus City Hall concert venue in which four gunmen shot people who were waiting for a show by a popular rock band and then set the building on fire. President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have claimed, without presenting evidence, that Ukraine had a role in the attack. Kyiv has strongly denied any involvement. The Investigative Committee, Russia's top criminal investigation agency, said in June that it concluded that the attack had been 'planned and carried out in the interests of the current leadership of Ukraine in order to destabilize political situation in our country.' It also noted the four suspected gunmen tried to flee to Ukraine afterward. The four, all identified as citizens of Tajikistan, were arrested hours after the attack and later appeared in a Moscow court with signs of being severely beaten. The committee said earlier this year that six other suspects were charged in absentia and placed on Russia's wanted list for allegedly recruiting and organizing the training of the four. Other defendants in the trial were accused of helping them.
