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Washington Post
3 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
What to know about Trump's order to restrict travel from 19 countries
President Donald Trump announced restrictions on individuals coming to the United States from more than dozen countries on Wednesday, broadening a policy from his first term and amplifying the administration's stringent approach to immigration. The ban, which is set to go into effect on Monday, has been criticized by rights groups for targeting several African and majority Muslim nations, and for appearing to capitalize on a moment of public grief after Sunday's attack in Boulder, Colorado. Trump's previous 2017 travel ban had two iterations before a third was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018, and some legal experts expect the new restrictions will also face legal challenges. Here's what to know.
Malay Mail
4 days ago
- General
- Malay Mail
Unmarried couple flogged 100 times in Indonesia's Aceh for sex outside marriage under strict Shariah law
BANDA ACEH, June 4 — A man and woman were publicly flogged 100 times each in Indonesia's conservative Aceh province on Wednesday after they were found guilty of sex outside marriage by a court operating under strict Islamic law. Sexual relations between an unmarried couple is outlawed in Aceh, which imposes a version of shariah, the Islamic legal code. Indonesia banned sex outside of marriage in its latest criminal code in 2022 but that law will not come into force until next year. The two were lashed in sets of 10 with a rattan stick as a small crowd watched on at a park in provincial capital Banda Aceh, and the female suspect was lashed by a woman, according to an AFP reporter at the scene. Three other suspects were caned a combined 49 times for alleged gambling and alcohol consumption. 'Today we are carrying out flogging punishment for perpetrators of adultery, alcohol consumption, and online gambling,' Banda Aceh Mayor Illiza Sa'aduddin Djamal told reporters. 'This becomes a moral lesson for the community at large. This flogging punishment becomes a gateway to repentance for them.' Medical services were on standby for all of those convicted. Rights groups have condemned the punishment as draconian. Yet caning retains strong support among Aceh's population as a common punishment for a range of offences including gambling, drinking alcohol and adultery. In February two men were publicly flogged more than 150 times after being found guilty of sexual relations. Gay sex is outlawed in Aceh. The region started using religious law after it was granted special autonomy in 2001, an attempt by the central government to quell a long-running separatist insurgency. — AFP
Free Malaysia Today
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
EU seeks to relax rules on turning away asylum seekers
Magnus Brunner said the proposal is a tool to process asylum claims more efficiently. (EPA Images pic) BRUSSELS : The EU unveiled plans on Tuesday to make it easier to send asylum seekers to certain third countries in the latest overhaul aimed at reducing migration to the bloc, sparking criticism from rights groups. The European Commission said it proposed broadening the so-called 'safe third country' concept, which allows member states to 'consider an asylum application inadmissible when applicants could receive effective protection' elsewhere. 'EU countries have been under significant migratory pressure for the past decade,' said migration commissioner Magnus Brunner, describing the proposal as 'another tool to help member states process asylum claims in a more efficient way'. Brussels has been under pressure to clamp down on arrivals and facilitate deportations, following a souring of public opinion on migration that has fuelled hard-right electoral gains in several member states. Under current rules, asylum seekers can have their application rejected if they could have filed it in a 'safe' third country where they have 'a genuine connection'. This is normally understood to mean a nation where the applicant has lived and worked, or has family. The commission proposal weakens such requirements to include any country that an asylum seeker has transited through on the way to Europe, as long as it is considered safe. This opens the way for failed applicants to be sent there. The planned reform also says the safe third country concept can be applied in absence of any connection or transit if there is a deal between member states and a third 'safe nation', and removes the suspensive effect of appeals. The change would significantly boost the number of those who could see their applications refused and become eligible for deportation, as many cross numerous borders on their way to Europe. In April for example, of almost 20,000 people who reached Europe via sea from northern Africa, many came from as far away as Bangladesh, Eritrea, Pakistan and Syria, according to the EU's border agency. The move comes after EU leaders called in October for urgent new legislation to increase and speed up returns, and for the commission to assess 'innovative' ways to counter irregular migration. In response, Brussels in March unveiled a planned reform of the 27-nation bloc's return system, which opened the way for states to set up migrant return centres outside the EU. And, in April, it published a list of countries of 'origin' it considers 'safe', making it harder for citizens of those nations to claim asylum by introducing a presumption that such applications lack merit. Featured on that list are Morocco and Tunisia, among the main points of departure for migrants and asylum seekers crossing the Mediterranean by boat. The latest proposal, which critics say is instrumental to the creation of return hubs outside the bloc, needs approval from the European Parliament and member states to become law. It also relies on the cooperation of third countries willing to take in applicants rejected by the EU. Currently, fewer than 20% of people ordered to leave the bloc are returned to their country of origin, according to EU data. The plan has already triggered fierce criticism. Sarah Chander, director of the Equinox Initiative for Racial Justice, said the EU was 'cynically distorting the concept of 'safety' to meet its own repressive ends'. Estrella Galan, an EU lawmaker with the Left group, called the proposal 'a lethal blow to the right to asylum'. 'It seeks to legalise forced deportations to third countries where refugees have never been, and where they have neither ties nor any guarantee of protection,' she said. Nearly one million people applied for asylum in the EU last year and about 440,000 people were granted protection.
Arab News
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
EU seeks to relax rules on turning away asylum seekers
BRUSSELS: The EU on Tuesday unveiled plans to make it easier to send asylum seekers to certain third countries, in the latest overhaul aimed at reducing migration to the bloc, sparking criticism from rights groups. The European Commission said it proposed broadening the so-called 'safe third country' concept, which allows member states to 'consider an asylum application inadmissible when applicants could receive effective protection' elsewhere. 'EU countries have been under significant migratory pressure for the past decade,' said migration commissioner Magnus Brunner, describing the proposal as 'another tool to help member states process asylum claims in a more efficient way.' Brussels has been under pressure to clamp down on arrivals and facilitate deportations, following a souring of public opinion on migration that has fueled hard-right electoral gains in several member states. Under current rules, asylum seekers can have their application rejected if they could have filed it in a 'safe' third country where they have 'a genuine connection.' This is normally understood to mean a nation where the applicant has lived and worked or has family. The commission proposal weakens such requirements to include any country that an asylum seeker has transited through on the way to Europe, as long as it is considered safe. This opens the way for failed applicants to be sent there. The planned reform also says that the safe third country concept can be applied in absence of any connection or transit, if there is a deal between member states and a third 'safe nation,' and removes the suspensive effect of appeals. The change would significantly boost the number of those who could see their applications refused and become eligible for deportation, as many cross numerous borders on their way to Europe. In April for example, of almost 20,000 people who reached Europe via sea from northern Africa, many came from as far away as Bangladesh, Eritrea, Pakistan and Syria, according to the EU's border agency. The proposal needs approval from the European Parliament and member states to become law — but has already triggered fierce criticism. Sarah Chander, director of the Equinox Initiative for Racial Justice, said the EU was 'cynically distorting the concept of 'safety' to meet its own repressive ends.' 'It is paving the way for migrants to be removed and deported basically anywhere, putting people in danger,' she said.
Associated Press
16-05-2025
- Health
- Associated Press
Gaza children are sent back to war zone following medical care after Jordan rejects requests to stay
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — When Haitham Abu Daqa's 5-month-old daughter developed a heart problem that could not be addressed near their home in Gaza, the family sought medical help in Jordan, where she underwent successful open-heart surgery. After the surgery, Daqa's wife, who was with their daughter, pleaded with Jordanian officials to be allowed to stay. She feared that little Nevine's recovery would be at risk in the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave that has few functioning medical facilities. But the officials insisted that the family had to go home. 'How can I take care of the girl while I am living in a tent, and at the same time, the bombing doesn't stop,' Daqa said, sobbing. 'How dare they send her back? If there is treatment in Gaza for her case, why did they take her in the first place?' Daqa's daughter was among 17 Palestinian children who were recently returned to Gaza with their caregivers after receiving medical treatment in Jordan. Rights groups warn that forcing the children to go back to a war zone is a possible violation of international law. It also raises doubts about whether the young patients can regain their health in a place where medical care is scarce and military strikes are an everyday threat. The children are trapped between Israel intensifying its military operation in Gaza as it threatens to seize the territory and a proposal to permanently resettle much of the population — which experts say could also be a legal violation — and the refusal of Arab countries to take part in any such plan, which they view as forcible expulsion that could create another refugee crisis. Arab nations have long been reluctant to take in Palestinians, or give them permanent status, out of fear that the refugees might never be allowed to return and that permanent resettlement would undermine the prospects for the creation of a Palestinian state. Jordan, which is already home to a large Palestinian population, has been hesitant to accept more due to its own demographic balance, weak economy and high unemployment. For Daqa's family, the dangers of the Israel-Hamas war returned almost immediately. As his wife crossed into Gaza on Tuesday, their bus was rerouted because an Israeli airstrike hit the hospital that was their destination, he said. The plan was always to return them The couple's child was in excellent health when she was discharged more than a month ago from the Specialty Hospital in the Jordanian capital of Amman, said Dr. Reyad Al-Sharqawi, the hospital's assistant director general. Three other children from Gaza were also treated and discharged, he said. The hospital covered the families' rent and other expenses until they left Tuesday, Al-Sharqawi said. More than two dozen children and their caregivers were evacuated from Gaza in March as part of a Jordanian initiative to provide urgent medical care to 2,000 children. The 17 patients who completed their treatment were returned to Gaza. Jordan's King Abdullah II, a close U.S. ally, announced the initiative during a meeting with President Donald Trump in February aimed at heading off the American leader's proposal for Gaza to be depopulated and redeveloped as a tourism destination. The Israeli government has embraced Trump's plan. A Jordanian official who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation acknowledged that some Palestinians asked to stay beyond the treatment, but he said the plan was always to return them. 'We are not going to allow the displacement of Palestinians outside Gaza,' he said. Jordan's government said the children who left made room for others to come. On Wednesday, four cancer patients arrived from Gaza to start care. Forcing people to return to a place where they could face serious harm would be a violation of international human rights law, according to rights groups. Under the law, all returns must be safe and voluntary, and the evacuating country should ensure that adequate services are available in their place of origin. The war has gutted Gaza's health system. Israel has blocked all imports, including food, fuel and medicine, for more than two months. Hospitals are running out of supplies, and experts have warned that the territory will likely fall into famine unless Israel lifts the blockade and ends its military campaign. Israel says the blockade aims to pressure Hamas to release the 58 hostages it still holds. Law cites the rights of wounded childrenHuman rights experts said Jordanian officials were in a tough position, not wanting to be complicit in what many see as the expulsion of Palestinians while providing aid to those in need. Still, the law comes down to the rights of wounded children, said professor Omer Shatz, a human rights lawyer and lecturer at SciencesPo University in Paris. 'There is an absolute prohibition on returning them to a place where they will be exposed to cruel, degrading or inhuman treatment, let alone a risk to their life,' Shatz said. Like refugees in other contexts, Palestinians should have the freedom to choose whether to return to their country, said Omar Shakir, the Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch. Countries that take in Palestinians from Gaza should seek assurances that they will be allowed to return if and when they choose, he said. For now, Israel is allowing Palestinians to return to Gaza after medical treatment. But the Palestinians fear that if the larger resettlement policy is enacted, they will be permanently exiled from their homeland, as hundreds of thousands were after the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation. Those refugees and their descendants now number some 6 million, concentrated in built-up camps across the region. Two families who returned to Gaza said the road home included many checkpoints, and Israeli soldiers took their phones and money upon entering. Israel's defense ministry said that during security checks of residents returning from Jordan to Gaza, some people were found carrying undeclared cash amounts exceeding 'normal limits' and was suspected of being 'intended for terrorist use' in Gaza. It said the money was being held while the circumstances were investigated. It was unclear whether any aid organizations helped facilitate the children's return. In March, the World Health Organization worked with the Jordanians to evacuate the sick children from Gaza, according to Jordan's government. The WHO did not respond to requests for comment on whether they were involved in the transfer back to Gaza. For some families there were no good options. Arafat Yousef's 12-year-old son, who lost a leg to an Israeli airstrike, waited eight months to get a prosthetic limb in Jordan. Yousef wants to stay in Jordan so his son can get the necessary follow-up care, but he also feels drawn back to Gaza to take care of his six other children. 'I wanted my son to complete his treatment,' Yousef said. 'But at the same time, I wanted to return to my land. I don't want to leave my children alone amid this bombing.' ___ Magdy reported from Cairo. Mednick reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press reporter Wafaa Shurafa contributed from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip.
