Manus Island police begin destroying shelters housing refugees – ““The conditions are appalling and it’s obvious you wouldn’t choose to stay here if you thought you could be safer elsewhere”

By Ben Doherty 10 November 2017 (The Guardian) – Papua New Guinean immigration officials and police have started destroying makeshift shelters built by about 600 refugees and asylum seekers who refuse to relocate from the now closed Manus Island detention centre.The initial efforts to dismantle the camp started on Friday, a day before a slated […]

26 teenage girls found dead at sea – 400 refugees rescued in the Mediterranean over the weekend

By Kara Fox and Livia Borghese 7 November 2017 (CNN) – Italian authorities have launched an investigation into the cause of death of 26 teenage girls whose bodies were recovered in the Mediterranean Sea on Sunday. The girls, aged 14-18, are believed to have been migrants from Niger and Nigeria who had embarked on the […]

UN Human Rights Commission slams Australia on refugees policy amid Manus Island saga – PNG government threatens forcible removal – Activists scale Sydney Opera House

10 November 2017 (Reuters) – Australia needs to stop rejecting refugees and change its migration laws to come into line with international standards, the UN Human Rights Committee said in a report released overnight. The committee, which comprises 18 independent experts and monitors countries’ compliance with a global human rights treaty, says Australia should come […]

Australia turns down New Zealand offer to take asylum seekers from Manus Island camp – PM Turnbull urges refugees to leave – PNG Supreme Court rejects bid to restore electricity, food, medical care, and water supplies

SYDNEY,  6 November 2017 (Reuters) – Australia turned down on Sunday an offer to take 150 asylum seekers being held in an Australian-run detention centre in Papua New Guinea, where UN officials have warned a humanitarian emergency is unfolding. About 600 men have barricaded themselves inside the camp on remote Manus Island in Papua New […]

The India-Bangladesh wall: Lessons for Trump – Border fences are not particularly effective, but they are enormously expensive

By Sudha Ramachandran 15 February 2017 (The Diplomat) – United States President Donald Trump’s plans to build a “great, great wall” along the United States’ 3,200 kilometer long border with Mexico to keep out what he calls “criminals, drug dealers, [and] rapists” is hardly a new idea. Several other countries, many motivated by Islamophobia, have […]

Madagascar environmental activist convicted, sentenced – and paroled

By Edward Carver 2 November 2017 ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (Mongabay) – Last week, an environmental activist in southeast Madagascar was convicted, sentenced to two years in prison — and immediately released on parole. This follows a recent pattern in the country in which activists are often given suspended sentences, seemingly as a way of keeping them […]

UN implores Australia to resume feeding “starving” refugees at remote camp – “It’s unbearable to watch this crisis unfold”

3 November 2017 (Thomson Reuters) – The United Nations human rights office called on Australia on Friday to restore food, water, and health services to about 600 interned refugees and asylum seekers in Papua New Guinea, which Canberra cut off three days ago. The detainees in the Manus Island Centre have defied attempts by the […]

Brazil’s Chapada dos Veadeiros park ravaged by largest fire in its history

By Angela Boldrini 27 October 2017 (Folha de São Paulo) – More than a quarter of Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park has been consumed by the largest fire in its history. According to the latest report, on Tuesday (24th), 64,000 hectares (about 158,000 acres) of the Park’s 240,000 hectares (593,000 acres), were hit by the […]

Tribes decry court decision to let DAPL oil keep flowing in spite of ruling that federal permits authorizing the pipeline violated the law

By Talli Nauman 20 October 2017 WASHINGTON (Native Sun News Today) – A federal judge ruled against tribal arguments on October 11, when he declared that the contested Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) can continue pumping oil across the Missouri River, while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finishes an environmental review he ordered on the […]

World hunger is increasing thanks to wars and global warming

By Leah Samberg 17 October 2017 (The Conversation) – Around the globe, about 815 million people – 11 percent of the world’s population – went hungry in 2016, according to the latest data from the United Nations. This was the first increase in more than 15 years.Between 1990 and 2015, due largely to a set […]

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