Children of Daesh suspects returned to France doing well: prosecutor

Children of Daesh suspects returned to France doing well: prosecutor
Above, Camp Roj, where relatives of people suspected of belonging to Daesh group are held, Al-Malikiyah in Syria’s northeastern Hasakah province. About 170 women had returned from Iraq and Syria to France, including 57 from detention camps in northeast Syria in recent years. (AFP file photo)
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Updated 11 September 2024
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Children of Daesh suspects returned to France doing well: prosecutor

Children of Daesh suspects returned to France doing well: prosecutor
  • Overall 170 women had returned from Iraq and Syria to France
  • Until 2022, France only brought back children on a case-by-case basis

PARIS: France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor said on Wednesday that 364 repatriated children of French parents suspected of joining the Daesh group in Syria and Iraq a decade ago were doing well.
“There are 364 children in 59 departments (areas in France), who are followed by judges for children, and who benefit from coordination from my office to make sure they have optimal care,” Olivier Christen told the France Info radio station.
Another anti-terror prosecutor had in 2018 expressed fear that the children of French nationals who joined Daesh after it set up a so-called caliphate in 2014 could be “ticking time bombs.”
But Christen, who leads the National Anti-Terror Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) opened in 2019 in the wake of a spate of jihadist attacks, brushed aside that worry.
“These 364 children in no way seem to me to correspond to that expression,” he said.
“They are being closely monitored... They pose no particular difficulty.”
“There are very different situations. Some are very, very young children, others are fully fledged teenagers,” he added.
Overall 170 women had returned from Iraq and Syria to France, he said, including 57 from detention camps in northeast Syria in recent years since the Daesh caliphate’s territorial collapse in 2019.
Of the 364 children who had been brought to France, “169 have been repatriated over the past two years,” he added.
Until 2022, France only brought back children on a case-by-case basis, prioritizing orphans and some children of women who had agreed to give up their parental rights. But Paris changed that policy two years ago.
Daesh seized control of large swathes of Syria and neighboring Iraq in 2014, before Syrian forces spearheaded by Kurds and backed by a US-led coalition ousted them from their last patch of land in eastern Syria in 2019.
Kurdish autonomous authorities in northeast Syria have been holding around 56,000 people, including 30,000 children, in detention centers and camps.
Among them are Daesh fighters and their families, as well as displaced people who fled the fighting.


Gunmen identify, kill 7 Punjabi travelers in Pakistan: govt official

Gunmen identify, kill 7 Punjabi travelers in Pakistan: govt official
Updated 14 sec ago
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Gunmen identify, kill 7 Punjabi travelers in Pakistan: govt official

Gunmen identify, kill 7 Punjabi travelers in Pakistan: govt official

QUETTA: Gunmen in volatile southwest Pakistan shot seven bus passengers dead after identifying them as being from another region, a government official said Wednesday.
Attackers late on Tuesday burst the tires of a bus that was traveling on a highway through Balochistan, close to the provincial border with Punjab, said Saadat Hussain, a senior government official in the area.
Gunmen boarded the bus and demanded to see the identity cards of passengers, after which Punjabis were taken off the bus.
“The passengers belonging to Punjab province... were taken off by the terrorists and killed,” Hussain told AFP.
“Later they were lined up and shot dead.”
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Security forces have been battling sectarian, ethnic and separatist violence for decades in the impoverished but mineral-rich Balochistan province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.


Office overseeing Afghan resettlement in US told to start planning closure

Office overseeing Afghan resettlement in US told to start planning closure
Updated 19 February 2025
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Office overseeing Afghan resettlement in US told to start planning closure

Office overseeing Afghan resettlement in US told to start planning closure
  • Official of an Afghan resettlement advocacy group calls the US administration move ‘a national disgrace’
  • The US government is currently pursuing a drive under Elon Musk to slash $2 trillion in spending

WASHINGTON: The State Department office overseeing the resettlement of Afghans in the United States has been told to develop plans to close by April, according to a US official, a leading advocate and two sources familiar with the directive, a move that could deny up to an estimated 200,000 people new lives in America.
Family members of Afghan-American US military personnel, children cleared to reunite with their parents, relatives of Afghans already admitted and tens of thousands of Afghans who worked for the US government during the 20-year war are among those who could be turned away if the office is shut, the advocate and the US official said.
“Shutting this down would be a national disgrace, a betrayal of our Afghan allies, of the veterans who fought for them, and of America’s word,” said Shawn VanDiver, founder of #AfghanEvac, the main coalition of veterans and advocacy groups and others that coordinates resettlements with the US government.
The White House and the US State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The development comes as the administration asks embassies worldwide to prepare staff cuts under a directive by US President Donald Trump to overhaul the diplomatic corps and billionaire Elon Musk’s DOGE office pursues a government-wide drive to slash $2 trillion in spending.
The Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts, CARE, was set up during the chaotic US pullout from Afghanistan in August 2021 as a temporary effort to relocate to the US Afghans at risk of Taliban retaliation because they worked for the US government during the war.
It became permanent in October 2022, expanded to Afghans granted refugee status, and has helped resettle some 118,000 people. VanDiver, the US official and the two sources said they did not know who ordered CARE to begin developing options to close.
Those options would include shuttering processing centers CARE runs in Qatar and Albania where nearly 3,000 Afghans vetted for US resettlement as refugees or Special Immigration Visa (SIV) holders have been stranded for weeks or months.
Those in the centers, including more than 20 unaccompanied minors bound for reunions with parents, live in modular housing. They receive food and other basic “life support,” but a Trump-ordered foreign aid freeze has ended programs for mental health and children, one source said.
According to both sources, the options for shuttering CARE are being prepared for Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, as well as Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Waltz, a former US special forces soldier who fought in Afghanistan, are among those slated to make a final decision, they said.
“There are definitely all options (for closing CARE) being considered,” said the second source. Both requested anonymity for fear of retaliation by the Trump administration.
The evacuation and resettlement operations have been stalled since Trump, who launched a promised immigration crackdown after taking office in January, halted pending 90-day reviews the US refugee program and foreign aid that funded flights to the US for Afghans cleared for resettlement.
Trump ordered the reviews to determine the efficiency of the refugee and foreign aid programs and to ensure they align with his foreign policy.
After rigorous background checks, SIVs are awarded to Afghans who worked for the US government during America’s longest war.
UN reports say the Taliban have jailed, tortured and killed Afghans who fought or worked for the former Western-backed government. The Taliban deny the allegations, pointing to a general amnesty approved for former government soldiers and officials.
A permanent shutdown of CARE and the Enduring Welcome operations it oversees could leave up to an estimated 200,000 Afghans without paths to the US, said VanDiver and the US official.
These comprise some 110,000 Afghans in Afghanistan whose SIV and refugee status applications are being reviewed and some 40,000 others who have been vetted and cleared for flights to Doha and Tirana before travel to the US.
An estimated 50,000 other Afghans are marooned in nearly 90 other countries – about half in Pakistan – approved for US resettlement or awaiting SIV or refugee processing, they said.


Nearly 300 deportees from US held in Panama hotel as officials try to return them to their countries

Nearly 300 deportees from US held in Panama hotel as officials try to return them to their countries
Updated 19 February 2025
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Nearly 300 deportees from US held in Panama hotel as officials try to return them to their countries

Nearly 300 deportees from US held in Panama hotel as officials try to return them to their countries
  • The migrants hailed from 10 mostly Asian countries, including Iran, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and others
  • More than 40 percent of the migrants, authorities say, won’t voluntarily return to their homeland

PANAMA CITY: Panama is detaining in a hotel nearly 300 people from various countries deported under US President Donald Trump, not allowing them to leave while waiting for international authorities to organize a return to their countries.
More than 40 percent of the migrants, authorities say, won’t voluntarily return to their homeland. Migrants in the hotel rooms held messages to the windows reading “Help” and “We are not save (sic) in our country.”
The migrants hailed from 10 mostly Asian countries, including Iran, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and others. The US has difficulty deporting directly to some of those countries so Panama is being used as a stopover. Costa Rica was expected to receive a similar flight of third-country deportees on Wednesday.
Panama’s Security Minister Frank Abrego said Tuesday the migrants are receiving medical attention and food as part of a migration agreement between Panama and the US
The Panamanian government has now agreed to serve as a “bridge” or transit country for deportees, while the US bears all the costs of the operation. The agreement was announced earlier this month after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit.
Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino, who faces political pressure over Trump’s threats of retaking control of the Panama Canal, announced the arrival of the first of the deportation flights last Thursday.
The confinement and legal limbo the deportees face has raised alarm in the Central American country, especially as images spread of migrants peaking through the windows of their rooms on high floors of the hotel and displaying the notes pleading for help.
Abrego denied the foreigners are being detained even though they cannot leave the rooms of their hotel, which is being guarded by police.
Abrego said that 171 of the 299 deportees have agreed to return voluntarily to their respective countries with help from the International Organization for Migration and the UN Refugee Agency. UN agencies are talking with the other 128 migrants in an effort to find a destination for them in third countries. Abrego said that one deported Irish citizen has already returned to her country.
Those who do not agree to return to their countries will be temporarily held in a facility in the remote Darien province through which hundreds of thousands of migrants have crossed on their journey north in recent years, Abrego said.
The Panamanian Ombudsman’s Office was scheduled to provide more details on the deportees’ situation later Tuesday.


Senate GOP pushes ahead with budget bill that funds Trump’s mass deportations and border wall

Senate GOP pushes ahead with budget bill that funds Trump’s mass deportations and border wall
Updated 19 February 2025
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Senate GOP pushes ahead with budget bill that funds Trump’s mass deportations and border wall

Senate GOP pushes ahead with budget bill that funds Trump’s mass deportations and border wall
  • This is the first step in unlocking Trump’s campaign promises — tax cuts, energy production and border controls — and dominating the agenda in Congress

WASHINGTON: Senate Republicans pushed ahead late Tuesday on a scaled-back budget bill, a $340 billion package to give the Trump administration money for mass deportations and other priorities, as Democrats prepare a counter-campaign against the onslaught of actions coming from the White House.
On a party-line vote, 50-47, Republicans launched the process, skipping ahead of the House Republicans who prefer President Donald Trump’s approach for a “big, beautiful bill” that includes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts that are tops on the party agenda. Senate Republicans plan to deal with tax cuts later, in a second package.
“It’s time to act,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., on social media, announcing the plan ahead as the House is on recess week. “Let’s get it done.”
This is the first step in unlocking Trump’s campaign promises — tax cuts, energy production and border controls — and dominating the agenda in Congress. While Republicans have majority control of both the House and Senate, giving a rare sweep of Washington power, they face big hurdles trying to put the president’s agenda into law over steep Democratic objections.
It’s coming as the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency effort is slashing costs across government departments, leaving a trail of fired federal workers and dismantling programs on which many Americans depend. Democrats, having floundered amid the initial chaos coming from the White House, emerged galvanized as they try to warn Americans what’s at stake.
“These bills that they have have one purpose — and that is they’re trying to give a tax break to their billionaire buddies and have you, the average American person, pay for it,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer told AP. “It is outrageous.”
Schumer convened a private weekend call with Democratic senators and emerged with a strategy to challenge Republicans for prioritizing tax cuts that primarily flow to the wealthy at the expense of program and service cuts to US health care, scientific research, veterans services and other programs.
As the Senate begins the cumbersome budget process this week — which entails an initial 50 hours of debate followed by an expected all-night session with dozens if not 100 or more efforts to amend the package in what’s called a vote-a-rama — Democrats are preparing to drill down on those issues.
The Senate GOP package would allow $175 billion to be spent on border security, including funding for mass deportation operations and to build the wall along the US-Mexico border; a $150 billion boost to the Pentagon for defense spending; and $20 billion for the Coast Guard.
Republicans are determined to push ahead after Trump’s border czar Tom Homan and top aide Stephen Miller told senators privately last week they are running short of cash to accomplish the president’s mass deportations and other border priorities.
The Senate Budget Committee said the package would cost about $85.5 billion a year, for four years of Trump’s presidency, paid for with new reductions and revenues elsewhere that other committees will draw up.
Eyeing ways to pay for the package, Senate Republicans are considering a rollback of the Biden administration’s methane emissions fee, which was approved by Democrats as part of climate change strategies in the Inflation Reduction Act, and hoping to draw new revenue from energy leases as they aim to spur domestic energy production.
While the House and Senate budget resolutions are often considered simply statements of policy priorities, these could actually become law.
The budget resolutions are being considered under what’s called the reconciliation process, which allows passage on a simple majority vote without many of the procedural hurdles that stall bills. Once rare, reconciliation is increasingly being used in the House and Senate to pass big packages on party-line votes when one party controls the White House and Congress.
During Trump’s first term, Republicans used the reconciliation process to pass the GOP tax cuts in 2017. Democrats used reconciliation during the Biden presidency era to approve COVID relief and also the Inflation Reduction Act.
 

 


Brazil prosecutor charges Bolsonaro over failed coup bid

Brazil prosecutor charges Bolsonaro over failed coup bid
Updated 19 February 2025
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Brazil prosecutor charges Bolsonaro over failed coup bid

Brazil prosecutor charges Bolsonaro over failed coup bid
  • Bolsonaro has denied the accusations and said he was the victim of “persecution”

BRASÍLIA: Brazil’s attorney general on Tuesday formally charged far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro and 33 others over an alleged coup attempt after his 2022 election loss.
Bolsonaro, 69, and his co-accused were hit with five charges over the alleged bid to prevent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after a bitter election race.
Attorney General Paulo Gonet Branco filed the charges at the Supreme Court “based on manuscripts, digital files, spreadsheets and exchanges of messages that reveal the scheme to disrupt the democratic order,” his office said in a statement.
“They describe, in detail, the conspiratorial plot set up and executed against democratic institutions.”
One of the charges is for the crime of “armed criminal organization,” allegedly led by Bolsonaro and his vice presidential candidate Walter Braga Netto.
“Allied with other individuals, including civilians and military personnel, they attempted to prevent, in a coordinated manner, the result of the 2022 presidential elections from being fulfilled,” read the statement.
The prosecutor’s office based its decision on a federal police report of over 800 pages, released last year after a two-year investigation which found Bolsonaro was “fully aware and actively participated” in the plot to cling to power.
Bolsonaro has denied the accusations and said he was the victim of “persecution.”
According to the statement from Branco’s office, the plot began in 2021, with “systematic attacks on the electronic voting system, through public statements and on the Internet.”
During the second round of the presidential election in October 2022, security agencies were mobilized to “prevent voters from voting for the opposition candidate,” said the statement.
Those involved at this stage worked to facilitate “the acts of violence and vandalism on January 8, 2023,” when Bolsonaro supporters stormed the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court.
The attorney general’s office said the criminal organization headed by Bolsonaro had pressured army chiefs “in favor of forceful actions in the political scene to prevent the elected president from taking office.”
Investigations also showed a plot to assassinate Lula, vice president Geraldo Alckmin and a high-profile judge with “the approval of” Bolsonaro.
According to the statement, the January 8 riots by Bolsonaro supporters urging the military to intervene were “the final attempt.”
The Supreme Court will now weigh the charges and decide whether to initiate proceedings against Bolsonaro.
Hours before the charges were filed, Bolsonaro told journalists in the capital Brasilia that he had “no concern” about the possibility of being indicted.