2020-12-31: News Headlines

Online News Editor (2020-12-31). Refugee agencies call for provision of shelter to 900 migrants in Bosnia. laprensalatina.com Sarajevo, Dec 31 (efe-epa).- International refugee agencies have called on authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to provide shelter to 900 migrants forced to survive in freezing temperatures without proper accommodation for over a week after their camp burned to the ground. The International Organization for Migration and the UN's refugee office ACNUR said in a …

Fight Back (2020-12-31). Mayor Lightfoot refused to join public forum on justice for Anjanette Young. fightbacknews.org Chicago, IL — On December 28, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot declined to participate in a public forum organized by Anjanette Young and her attorney, Keenan Saulter, to discuss transparency, accountability and justice for Young in the wake of the botched police raid and coverup perpetrated against her. | Previously, Mayor Lightfoot told press that she'd asked for a direct meeting with Young, saying, "I'd like to have that conversation with her in person, and I will see whether or not my request is granted." | According to attorney Saulter, Young sought a private meeting and public forum with Lightfoot, Police…

Mehr News Agency (2020-12-31). Another US convoy attacked near Kuwait-Iraq border. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Dec. 31 (MNA) — A US coalition logistics convoy was reportedly targeted by a roadside bomb near Kuwait-Iraq border.

Online News Editor (2020-12-31). Spain, UK reach draft deal on Gibraltar after Brexit. laprensalatina.com Madrid, Dec 31 (efe-epa).- Spain and the United Kingdom on Thursday came to a draft agreement to avoid a hard border in Gibraltar after Brexit. Arancha González Laya, the Spanish foreign minister, announced the draft deal just hours before the UK is due to begin life outside the European Union. "We are knocking down barriers …

Prabhat Patnaik (2020-12-30). A matter of survival of the peasantry. mronline.org The kisans gathered around the Delhi border have unerringly put their fingers on the real issue confronting them, namely their very survival as peasants.

teleSUR (2020-12-30). Mexico Was the Most Dangerous Country for Journalists in 2020. telesurenglish.net Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Tuesday published its annual report on journalists who have been killed while carrying out their work, noting that Mexico ranks first among the most dangerous countries for journalists. | RELATED: | Mexico recorded 8 journalists killed in 2020, thus consolidating an average of 9 journalists murdered each year over the past five years. | The RSF report noted the "savage" deaths of Juli…

Peoples Dispatch (2020-12-30). Sudan-Ethiopia border conflict escalates. peoplesdispatch.org On Tuesday, December 29, the Ethiopian foreign ministry warned of a "counter-offensive" after the Sudanese army announced that it had recaptured an area in the contested Al-Fashaga region near the border between the two countries. | The Al-Fashaga region falls on the Sudanese side of the border delineated by the British in 1902, who had colonized Sudan at the time. The Ethiopian delegation refused to recognize this border in the recently held talks in Sudanese capital Khartoum, which ended on December 23 without an agreement on the demarcation of land. | Ethiopian farmers have been settled in Al-Fashaga, which is…

Online News Editor (2020-12-29). India finds 6 cases of new covid variant among travelers from Britain. laprensalatina.com New Delhi, Dec 29 (efe-epa).- Six people who flew in from Britain recently have tested positive for the more contagious strain of the coronavirus that has prompted fresh border closures across the world after it was first detected in the United Kingdom. "All these persons have been kept in single room isolation in designated health …

news.un (2020-12-29). The virus that shut down the world: The plight of refugees and migrants. news.un.org In part four of our review of the global impact of COVID-19, UN News considers the new challenges faced by refugees and migrants during 2020; from a heightened risk of catching the COVID-19 virus in crowded camps, to being stranded due to travel restrictions, and becoming the targets of criminal gangs.

Rayhan Uddin (2020-12-29). Iraq world's second-deadliest country for journalists in 2020, report finds. middleeasteye.net Iraq world's second-deadliest country for journalists in 2020, report finds | Reporters gunned down while covering anti-government protests in Baghdad and Basra among 50 journalists killed worldwide | Tue, 12/29/2020 – 12: 41 | Iraqi mourners carry the coffin of Youssef Sattar, who was killed in January while covering anti-government protests in Baghdad (AFP) | Iraq was the world's second deadliest co…

Eds. (2020-12-29). Anti-Vaxxers are gaining dangerous ground in the Latinx community. mronline.org COVID-19 is a new disease, but many of us from immigrant families know all too well the trauma of having our livelihood threatened and our lives put in imminent danger of death. The pandemic situation is not too dissimilar to our life experiences. It is natural, especially for those who have been politicized, to look …

Mehr News Agency (2020-12-29). Sudan, Ethiopia dispatch armed forces to common border areas. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Dec. 29 (MNA) — Following the escalation of tensions between Sudan and Ethiopia, both sides have dispatched military forces to common border areas.

Online News Editor (2020-12-29). Spain: Accord needed to avert hard border with Gibraltar. laprensalatina.com Madrid, Dec 28 (efe-epa).- Spain will begin customs and immigration checks on the Gibraltar border at the start of 2021 absent an accord with the United Kingdom on the territory's post-Brexit links with the European Union, the foreign minister said Monday, though she added that people who cross the boundary daily for work will not …

Online News Editor (2020-12-29). Watchdog says 50 journalists killed in 2020, majority in countries not at war. laprensalatina.com By Maria D. Valderrama Paris, Dec 29 (efe-epa).- A total of 50 journalists were killed in connection with their work in 2020, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Tuesday, warning that more media persons were being murdered in countries not at war. "More journalists are being killed in countries considered to be 'at peace'," RSF said …

Online News Editor (2020-12-28). Sri Lanka welcomes first tourists in nine months since Covid-19 outbreak. laprensalatina.com Colombo, Dec 28 (efe-epa).- Sri Lanka on Monday welcomed its first batch of nearly 200 tourists, more than nine months after the country closed its borders for foreigners due to the coronavirus outbreak. A flight operated by Ukrainian airline SkyUp, carrying the visitors, landed at the Mattala International Airport in the afternoon, thus resuming tourism …

Staff (2020-12-28). "I Just Felt Like I Had No Control Over My Body": Survivors of Alleged ICE Medical Abuse Speak Out. democracynow.org Dozens of immigrant women detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia have joined a class-action lawsuit against ICE over allegations they were subjected to nonconsensual and invasive gynecological procedures and surgeries that were later found to be unnecessary, and in some cases left them unable to have children. The lawsuit cites sworn testimony from at least 35 women about their treatment by Mahendra Amin, a physician in Ocilla, Georgia, and describes retaliation and threats of deportation for speaking out. "We have more than 40 women who filed sworn testimo…

news.un (2020-12-28). Bosnia and Herzegovina: Migrant lives at 'immediate risk', warn UN agencies. news.un.org United Nations agencies and humanitarian partners have called on authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to act urgently to help hundreds of migrants, stranded and without shelter, amid freezing winter temperatures.