“TRUMP SAYS WE DON’T HAVE TO LET YOU IN:” REPORT SAYS U.S. BORDER OFFICIALS ARE TURNING AWAY ASYLUM SEEKERS
Three times this winter a Honduran woman named Alma went to U.S. officials at the border between Reynosa, Mexico and Hidalgo, Texas, to ask for asylum for herself and her three children. She had fled Honduras because her other child had been killed by gang members, and she had brought documentation to prove it, but three times she was told by U.S. Customs and Border Protection that she would have to wait in Mexico. In February, the family was kidnapped.
Alma’s is one of the cases included in a report released today by Human Rights First, which alleges that officials at the U.S.-Mexico border have been routinely and illegally turning away asylum seekers. The report provides dozens of examples of officials providing false information about the law, asking misleading questions or pressuring people to take back statements about fearing persecution, and frustrating lawyers who try to facilitate claims.
Keystone XL: the final leg and the myth of Trump's job promise
Part three: The Guardian’s pipeline road trip ends in Nebraska, where Trump has sold the project as a creator of ‘a lot of jobs’, but facts don’t support his claims
Words by Oliver Laughland, photos and video by Laurence Mathieu-Léger, graphics by Monica Ulmanu
“Nebraska is the last hope for stopping this,” says Art Tanderup, sitting on the lawn close to the solar panels that provide most of the energy to his farm. Spring comes a little earlier here than in South Dakota and Montana. The 2ft deep snow drifts that had blanketed the farmland melted a month ago, revealing acres of harvested corn stubble that is now being readied for replanting.
This year’s crop cycle brings with it a sense of unprecedented foreboding for Tanderup and his wife Helen, who returned to the century old family farm in 2011, hoping for a quiet retirement.
The night of Donald Trump’s election brought tears here. “I thought: ‘here we go again’” says Helen. “We’re going to be fighting the Keystone pipeline again.”
North Korea threatens 'grave consequences' for China in rare criticism of neighbour
'A string of absurd and reckless remarks are now heard from China every day only to render the present bad situation tenser,' says statement published by state-run news agency
David Brunnstrom
North Korea's state media has published a rare criticism of China, saying Chinese state media commentaries calling for tougher sanctions over Pyongyang's nuclear programme were undermining relations with Beijing and worsening tensions.
A commentary carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) referred to recent commentaries in China's People's Daily and Global Times newspapers, which it said were “widely known as media speaking for the official stand of the Chinese party and government.”
“A string of absurd and reckless remarks are now heard from China every day only to render the present bad situation tenser,” it said.
Greece rejects new extradition request for Turkish soldiers
Greek prosecutors have argued that the asylum-seeking soldiers would not receive a fair trial in Turkey. Ankara has accused the soldiers of involvement in a failed coup that left more than 300 people dead.
A Greek court on Wednesday blocked Turkey's second request for the extradition of three Turkish soldiers who fled the country last year in the wake of a failed coup.
The court accepted arguments made by the prosecutor that the men would not receive a fair trial and would place their lives in danger upon returning to Turkey.
"They may be subjected to torture and inhumane behavior," the Greek prosecutor said.
Ankara has sought the extradition of eight Turkish service members, who it accuses of participating in a failed coup last year that left more than 300 people dead, including civilians.
Asylum-seeking soldiers
The men landed a helicopter in Greece on July 16 and requested asylum upon their arrival, saying they feared for their lives.
Massive anti-militancy operation launched in Kashmir’s Shopian district
Peerzada Ashiq
SRINAGAR
Security forces on Thursday launched a massive anti-militancy operation in south Kashmir's Shopian district following reports of movement of militants in villages.
A contingent of around 3,000 security personnel from the the Army, CRPF and the police cordoned off Shopian and nearby Pulwama villages.
Locals said security forces conducted house-to-house searches in over dozen villages, including Heaf, Sugan, Chilipora and Malnad.
Around 20 villages are believed to be under the search operation.
John Kiriakou: The ex-CIA officer turned whistle-blower
Former CIA officer John Kiriakou speaks to Al Jazeera about the US's use of torture and his time in prison.
For 14 years, John Kiriakou worked as an analyst and case officer for the CIA, leading the team that captured senior al-Qaeda member Abu Zubaydah in Pakistan in 2002. Then, in a television interview in 2007, three years after he had resigned from the US intelligence agency, he became the first current or former member of it to publicly acknowledge that the CIA used torture, and that its use was official policy under the administration of President George W Bush.
In 2012, the Barack Obama administration filed espionage charges against him.
Those charges were eventually dropped in October of that year, but Kiriakou did plead guilty to violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act by confirming the name of an officer involved in the then-secret CIA rendition programme that transferred CIA detainees to secret prison facilities around the world.
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