Author: DW

The United Kingdom has sent its first asylum-seeker to Rwanda under a voluntary scheme, British media reports said on Tuesday, a week after the UK government adopted a controversial law allowing irregular migrants to be deported to the East African nation. The voluntary scheme is separate from the government’s forced deportation program that seeks to deter asylum seekers from crossing the English Channel in small boats to live in the UK. The contentious law allows the UK government to expel undocumented migrants to Rwanda, where they would be allowed to remain if their asylum applications are successful. They would not be allowed…

Police in Georgia’s capital have used water cannon, tear gas and stun grenades against crowds outside the country’s parliament protesting against a bill the opposition says aims to crack down on press freedoms.The legislation being debated by parliamentarians will require media and non-commercial organisations to register as being under foreign influence if they receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad. Image: Riot police detain a demonstrator in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi. Pic: AP Image: Police used water cannon to disperse protesters. Pic: AP Thousands of demonstrators gathered in the streets of Tbilisi on Tuesday to oppose the legislation.Clashes erupted…

Prizewinning US novelist Paul Auster has died of complications arising from lung cancer, aged 77. Auster, who was born in the US but celebrated world wide, died at his home in Brooklyn, New York, on Tuesday night. Auster, who published 34 books throughtout his career, didn’t always make things easy for readers. He confronted the big issues of life through his deliberate literary confusions and unfurled his stories in compound sentences, yet his books drew a large and devoted audience. A bumpy start Auster was born on February 3, 1947, in Newark, New Jersey to parents of Austrian Jewish descent.…

The US is planning to reclassify cannabis as a less dangerous drug in an historic shift that could have a significant impact across the country.The Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) proposal would recognise the drug’s medical properties and acknowledge it has less potential for abuse than other dangerous substances. However the proposal, which still must be reviewed by the White House, would not legalise cannabis outright for recreational use.Marijuana is currently classified in the US as a “schedule one” substance, alongside heroin and LSD, which is reserved for drugs with a high potential for abuse.The US Department of Justice, which oversees…

A two-year-old boy has died after a bouncy castle was lifted off the ground by a strong gust of wind, US authorities have said.The parents of the boy – named in reports as Bodhi Naaf – are “grappling with unimaginable grief” following the incident on Saturday, a Go Fund Me page said.The “tragic accident” happened near Casa Grande, Arizona, according to a statement from the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office.”Several children were playing in a bounce house when a strong gust of wind sent it airborne into the neighbouring lot,” the sheriff’s office said.”A two-year-old child was transported to the hospital…

Police have entered Columbia University to break up a demonstration after pro-Palestinian protesters occupied one of its buildings.It comes after New York City Mayor Eric Adams said on Tuesday that the protest at the Ivy League school “must end now” and claimed “professional outside agitators” had infiltrated the demonstration. University bosses said they had called in officers from the New York Police Department (NYPD) after protesters “chose to escalate the situation through their actions”.”After the university learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalised, and blockaded, we were left with no choice,” they said in a statement. Image: Police…

While Tunisia is a trusted ally in curbing migration to Europe, human rights observers don’t consider it a "safe" place for migrants. Source link

An Israeli ground offensive in Rafah is “on the immediate horizon”, the UN’s aid chief has warned, as Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed that his forces “will enter” the southern Gaza city.Martin Griffiths said in a statement on X on Tuesday the threatened attack would “spell even more trauma and death” for those in the city and “strike a disastrous blow” to the aid agencies trying to help them. “Famine is taking hold. The rules of war continue to be flouted,” he said, adding that a ground operation in the city, where an estimated 1.5 million displaced Gaza Palestinians are sheltering, will…

An army helicopter crashed in northern Colombia on Monday, killing all nine soldiers on board, the country’s armed forces said. The crash took place as the helicopter was taking supplies for soldiers to the municipality of Santa Rosa del Sur, a region that has recently experienced fighting between the National Liberation Army guerrilla group and the drug trafficking group known as the Gulf Clan, the Colombian military said in a statement. The military said that the MI-17 Russian-built chopper crashed around 1:50 p.m. (1850 GMT) local time. The army described the crash as an accident. “I regret the death of the nine passengers…

The Philippines said on Tuesday that the China Coast Guard fired water cannons at two of its vessels, causing damage to one of them, during a patrol near the hotly contested Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. “This damage serves as evidence of the forceful water pressure used by the China Coast Guard in their harassment of the Philippine vessels,” Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson Jay Tarriela said in a statement. “They were not deterred and will persist in carrying out their legitimate operations to support Filipino fishermen and ensure their safety.” The China Coast Guard said the “vessels” had been…