Daily Archives: July 8, 2020

2020-07-08: News Headlines

Ed Childs and G. Lechat (2020-07-08). 'End police brutality' with new forms of union solidarity. workers.org A rally and march against police brutality called by UNITE HERE Local 26 — a union representing hotel, casino and school dining hall workers — drew upwards of 500 to the Commons in the center of this working-class immigrant city on June 26. A former manufacturing center that fell on . . . |

Laura Carlsen (2020-07-08). Lopez Obrador's Visit to Trump is a Betrayal of the U.S. and Mexican People. counterpunch.org To praise a tyrant is to insult a people. López Obrador's proposed visit to Washington is an insult to the American people, and especially to the 37 million Mexican migrants who live in the United States. The purpose of the state visit with Donald Trump on July 8 is to celebrate the entry into force of the Mexico-United States-Canada Treaty (T-MEC) on July 1. It comes at the worst possible time.

Staff (2020-07-08). ICE Threatens to Deport or Bar International Students If Schools Move Classes Online Due to Pandemic. democracynow.org As President Trump pressures states to reopen schools in the fall despite an alarming surge in new coronavirus cases, ICE says international students studying at U.S. universities could face deportation if their schools switch to online-only courses. The U.S. issues more than a million student visas a year, and international students account for as much as a third of the undergraduate student body at many colleges and universities and often constitute the majority of graduate students. "I have yet to see a justification for this," says immigration attorney Fiona McEntee, who notes that international students cont…

Peoples Dispatch (2020-07-08). International students may be asked to leave the US, if classes entirely online. peoplesdispatch.org The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has announced the move as several universities are planning to move classes online in the upcoming semester…

Ali Salam (2020-07-08). Palestinian from Gaza Abducted by Israeli Forces at Erez Crossing. imemc.org The Israeli forces abducted , on Monday evening, a Palestinian passenger at the Beit Hanoun (Erez) border crossing, in northern besieged Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Information Center reported. The young man, Abdullah Shaker, was on his way to request permission to travel to Israel, in order to donate bone marrow …

Binoy Kampmark (2020-07-08). The Coronavirus Seal: Victoria's Borders Close. dissidentvoice.org The state of Victoria is being sealed off from the rest of Australia. On Tuesday, at 11.59pm, the border with New South Wales will be shut with publicised resoluteness. It is happening at the insistence of politicians across the country with a panicked urge. On the way are reminders about the miracle that was federation …

IMEMC Staff (2020-07-08). Israeli Troops Invade Parts of Eastern Gaza City. imemc.org Israeli troops invaded earlier on Wednesday some parts of the eastern Gaza city, in the Gaza Strip. Local Palestinian media outlets, including Maan News Agency, said that a number of armored Israeli army vehicles, including three military bulldozers, invaded a border fence area, between eastern Gaza city an Israel, about …

yenisafak (2020-07-08). Sunken migrant boat found in eastern Turkey. yenisafak.com A migrant boat which sank last month in a lake in eastern Turkey has been found, the local governorship said on Wednesday."The boat was found at a depth of 106.5 meters [349.4 feet] off Carpanak Island" in Lake Van, the Van Governorship said in a statement.The boat and the bodies there will be recovered, the statement added.Lake Van, near Turkey's border with Iran, spans some 3,755 square kilometers (1,450 square miles).The boat is believed to have been carrying up to 60 migrants when it sank, and six bodies had been recovered so far, according to Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu.He said 11 suspects had been arre…

Fight Back (2020-07-07). Roll 4 Justice – Protest on wheels demands justice for all on July 4 in Minneapolis. fightbacknews.org Minneapolis, MN – On July 4, more than 200 protesters took the streets on wheels for a new type of march calling for an end to a fundamentally racist criminal justice system and "#Justice4All." Protesters were on bikes, rollerblades, roller skates, skateboards, as well as in a car caravan as they rolled through various neighborhoods in Minneapolis. The protest was organized by Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) along with co-hosts Native Lives Matter, CAIR-Minnesota, LatinoAltRock, and Asamblea de Derechos Civiles. Messaging included slogans such as: "Abolish ICE," "Prosecute the police," and lin…

WSWS (2020-07-07). Canada's migrant workers protest lack of COVID-19 protections. wsws.org Hundreds of migrant workers and their supporters joined protests Saturday against atrocious working and living conditions—conditions long sanctioned by government and made still worse by the pandemic.

RT (2020-07-07). Foreign students face mass DEPORTATIONS from US if their universities switch to online-only classes. rt.com US immigration authorities have warned foreign students at colleges offering online-only courses that they must transfer to schools with in-person classes or face deportation. The rule has students and many professors up in arms. | Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has ended the temporary exceptions it granted foreign students during the spring semester, leaving some students whose schools have gone online-only for fall facing removal from the country — or stranded back home. The loophole had permitted non-immigrant student visa holders to stay in the US while taking online courses due to the coro…

RT (2020-07-07). US 'certainly looking' at banning TikTok & other Chinese social media apps, says Pompeo. rt.com US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has confirmed Washington is considering a ban on Chinese social media apps, including the ultra-popular TikTok, apparently inspired by a similar ban in India and Australia's threat to do the same. | Speaking with Fox News, Pompeo affirmed "we're certainly looking at" banning TikTok and other Chinese apps, following the lead of India, which banned 59 Chinese apps after border skirmishes with Beijing, and Australia, which has threatened to do the same. Americans should download the apps "only if you want your information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party," he smirked.

RT (2020-07-07). Seven TORTURE CHAMBERS & cells inside shipping containers discovered in Dutch police raid after crack of encrypted chat app. rt.com Six Dutch men have been arrested after a Franco-Dutch police operation to crack the EncroChat encrypted text app led authorities to seven shipping containers outfitted as grisly torture chambers and cells near the Belgian border. | Police arrested six men after snooping on their alleged plans to kidnap and take hostage fellow criminals, discussed in detail over EncroChat for months, Dutch authorities revealed on Tuesday. The kidnappers were apparently quite meticulous in their planning, with several "teams" preparing to snatch up their victims and one "observation team." The authorities conducted their raid on…

RT (2020-07-07). Russia steps up patrols against marmot hunting after bubonic plague outbreaks in neighboring China & Mongolia. rt.com Russia is increasing patrols on its border with China and Mongolia after both of its neighbors reported suspected cases of the bubonic plague. The aim is to stop people from hunting marmots, which can carry the illness. | The rodents are thought to have been the source of the recent outbreak. Russian authorities have warned of the dangers of eating marmots. | Occurrences of the plague have been found in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia, and the Mongolian province of Khovd. | The bubonic plague is one of the plague's three variants, and was responsible for killing up to 200 million people in the 14th Centur…

WSWS (2020-07-07). Dozens of immigrants drown in eastern Turkey's Lake Van. wsws.org Migrants traveling from Central Asian war zones are reportedly forced to travel by boat over Lake Van to bypass police checkpoints on land.

Pan Africanism Today Secretariat (2020-07-07). Xenophobia in South Africa fractures international working-class solidarity. peoplesdispatch.org The COVID-19 pandemic has strongly impacted migrants in South Africa who have been facing increasingly violent attacks and marginalization over the past decade, reinforced by xenophobic rhetoric on a state-level…

Mark W. Bradley (2020-07-07). Let Us Venerate Our Enemies. dissidentvoice.org Let's imagine there's a fictitious country on our border, the government of which is committing unspeakable atrocities against its own people. And let us further imagine there is a steady stream of refugees attempting to cross over our border and into our country, so as to escape the horrors that await them, should they be …

en.mehrnews (2020-07-07). Trade activity resumes in Shalamcheh border after 4 months. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Jul. 08 (MNA) — Trade activity was resumed in Shalamcheh Border Crossing in southern province of Iraqi's Basra on Tue. after four months which was halted due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, COVID-19.

FIRE (2020-07-06). U.S. imperialism means we can't breathe! workers.org Fight for Im/migrants and Refugees Everywhere released this statement on July 5. Fight for Im/migrants and Refugees Everywhere (FIRE) is in solidarity with the global rebellion for Black lives. It is right to rebel against police terror. The same racist, sexist, police violence used to terrorize people at home is . . . |

RT (2020-07-06). 'It is not clear': Putin says Russian tourists are no closer to going abroad as world governments can't figure out what to do. rt.com Russian President Vladimir Putin has no idea when countries will open their borders to Russian tourists, because the world's governments can't work out what they want to do — and other Europeans don't even agree with each other. | That's according to the president himself, speaking with Vitaly Savelyev, head of Russia's flag-carrying airline Aeroflot. | "It is not clear what our partners in many countries of the world will do, including in Europe, as they still can't figure out between themselves," he said. "And it is not clear when they will open their borders and territories to third-country nationals,…

WSWS (2020-07-06). New Jersey growers refuse to test migrant farm workers for COVID-19. wsws.org The decision not to test these laborers, many of whom have traveled from states with rising rates of infection, creates the conditions for a public health disaster.

Lucas Leiroz de Almeida (2020-07-06). British Government Encourages Mass Emigration from Hong Kong to Affect China. globalresearch.ca In late June, China's National People's Congress passed Hong Kong's new national security law, later signed by Chinese President Xi Jinping. The new law imposes a special security regime in the autonomous territory of Hong Kong, prohibiting foreign interference …

yenisafak (2020-07-06). Greece closes its borders to Serbia amid pandemic. yenisafak.com Greece has temporarily closed its borders to Serbian citizens on Monday morning in response to the rapid rise of COVID-19 cases.Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic described the decision as "unfortunate.""The decision will be periodically reviewed by Greece… we hope that other facts will be taken into account. It is obvious that Greece has an interest in foreign tourists coming, and most tourists are just coming from Serbia," said Dacic.Tourist operators in Serbia have also expressed frustration over the decision, describing it as unfair, and calling on tourist organizations in Greece to react.Greece's decisio…

yenisafak (2020-07-06). China retreats from border clash site: Indian Army. yenisafak.com Indian army sources claimed on Monday that Chinese troops began to withdraw from the Galwan Valley area in the northern Himalayan region of Ladakh, where recent clashes took place between the two sides.In a first sign of disengagement from the site of the June 15 clash Chinese troops were seen "dismantling tents and moving back in vehicles," an official from the Indian Army told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity.Defensive structures at patrolling point 14, the main site of the June 15 clash that killed 20 Indian soldiers including a colonel, were removed and the Chinese army moved back by "at least a mile…

en.mehrnews (2020-07-06). Border Guards first defensive stronghold of country: cmdr. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Jul. 07 (MNA) — The commander of IRGC Ground Force, Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour said on Monday that Border Guards are the first defensive stronghold of the country.

en.mehrnews (2020-07-06). China, India to complete troop pullback from disputed border. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Jul. 06 (MNA) — China and India have agreed to complete troop pullback from the disputed border as soon as possible, Beijing says.

Julia Conley, staff writer (2020-07-06). As Colleges Resort to Online Learning, ICE Issues 'Needlessly Cruel' Rule Pushing International Students Out of US. commondreams.org Immigrant rights advocates expressed shock on Monday after Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced international students whose U.S. schools are moving to an online-only model for the Fall 2020 semester will no longer be welcome in the United States. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/gettyimages-1212026889_1.jpg

yenisafak (2020-07-05). Turkey seizes large amount of PKK ammunition in N.Iraq. yenisafak.com The Turkish military seized a large amount of ammunition as part of its anti-terror operation in northern Iraq, said the Turkish National Defense Ministry on Sunday.The ministry said in a written statement that search and sweep activities by commandos as part of the Operation Claw-Tiger seized four AK-47s, 40 hand grenades, as well as ammunition for RPG-7 rocket launcher and mortars, grenade throwers along with many others.The operation is successfully ongoing, it said.Turkey's operations Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle were launched last month to ensure the safety of the Turkish people and borders by neutralizing the…

_____ (2020-07-04). Release The Prisoners: Ohio Jail 100 Percent Positive For Covid. popularresistance.org In a recent report, the Ohio Immigrant Alliance stated that the Morrow County Correctional Facility in Mt. Gilead is the first county jail in the state to be 100 percent COVID-positive. The jail, holding local prisoners as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees, is also the first 100 percent COVID-positive ICE detention center in the U.S. | The Alliance accuses jail authorities of failing to follow their own protocols as well as ICE standards. | According to the Alliance report, "None of the inmates and detainees at Morrow County have been seen by a doctor in the facility, despite their COVID diagn…