International

On April 18, Australia abolished a popular work visa it granted to 95,000 foreign workers every year.

Indians used to get close to 25,000 of these. The programme known as 457 visa allows businesses to employ foreign workers for a period of up to four years in skilled jobs where there is a shortage of Australian workers. The new norms require higher Eng lish-language proficiency and job skills.

Manus Island detainee class action begins Megan Neil, Australian Associated Press May 28, 2017 12:53pm Fifty current and former Manus Island detainees will give evidence in a class action their lawyers say will shine a light on conditions in the offshore immigration detention centre. The 1905 group members are seeking compensation for alleged physical and psychological injuries they argue they suffered as a result of the conditions on which they were held on Manus Island.

TAORMINA, ITALY — Italy chose to host a Group of Seven summit of wealthy nations on a hilltop overlooking the Mediterranean, looking to draw attention to the migrant crisis that has seen hundreds of thousands of people set sail from Africa in search of a better life in Europe. But world leaders on Saturday said little that will help Italy manage the steady flow of migrants to its shores or enable it to cope with the growing number of new arrivals.

Home Page » NEWS 13.05.2017 11:44 A “ferry service” that encourages people smugglers or an essential humanitarian rescue service that saves thousands of African migrants making a dangerous sea crossing to Europe? This debate among EU officials about the role of aid groups in the Mediterranean highlights their dilemma between the moral and legal obligation of helping those in need, and growing pressure from voters to keep them away.

Wednesday 10 May 2017 07.30 BST Last modified on Wednesday 10 May 2017 07.57 BST A fter finishing the couscous and arroz con leche cooked by a semi-clandestine group of local volunteers, the unaccompanied boys disappear into the night as quickly as they appeared. Minutes earlier, when the locals drove along a coastal road edging the fortified medieval city of Melilla, it was hard to imagine that the peaceful-looking cliffs were home to some 60 youngsters.

On Tuesday, more than 14 million people around the world , including anxious applicants in the Washington area , will begin checking computers and smartphones in one of the strangest rituals of the U.S. immigration system. When the clock strikes noon in the nation’s capital, they will be able to visit a State Department website, enter their names, years of birth and 16-digit identification numbers.

With the Trump administration's tough stance on immigration, many asylum seekers from El Salvador and Honduras are increasingly looking to Mexico instead.

Refugees learn to shake hands, introduce themselves in English, flush a toilet and cross the street as part of the Australian Government's cultural orientation program. Key points: Government grants ABC rare access to AUSCO program Program offers five-day crash course in what refugees can expect in their new Australian home This year, Australia will take 1,050 refugees from refugee camps in Thailand Ko Aung has no idea who Don Bradman is or even Malcolm Turnbull.

VP Pence says US will honor refugee deal with Australia Posted: Updated: By CNN US Vice President Mike Pence said Saturday that the United States would "honor" a refugee resettlement agreement forged with Australia in the closing days of the Obama administration, despite it previously being described by US President Donald Trump as a "dumb deal."

Human rights and legal groups say a scathing Senate report on offshore processing and conditions inside detention highlights the government’s “wilful inaction” and bolsters their calls for the closure of the Manus Island and Nauru centres. On Friday the government released a report by the Senate committee on legal and constitutional affairs, which followed a seven-month inquiry into allegations of abuse on Manus and Nauru sparked by the Guardian’s publication of the Nauru files .

Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee Chair's foreword Australia's policy of offshore processing has been the subject of a number of Senate inquiries. These inquires have been highly critical of many aspects of the Regional Processing Centre (RPC) policy.

4 Reasons Why France's Presidential Election Is So Important It's a tight race that could shape the future of Europe. 21/04/2017 3:16 PM IST | Updated 23/04/2017 9:15 AM IST 150 Nick Robins-Early World News Reporter, The Huffington Post ADVERTISEMENT France’s presidential election race has been a volatile spectacle, as unexpected candidates have surged into the limelight while scandals involving some have made the outcome uncertain.

African Group Tries to Deter Illegal Immigration share See comments YAOUNDE — The Italian coast guard says it has rescued nearly 6,000 migrants on the Mediterranean since Friday, underscoring the continued flow of people along this dangerous route. A group of Africans living in Europe visited Cameroon this week to launch a campaign against illegal migration.

SYDNEY—Australia plans to raise the bar for handing out citizenships by lengthening the waiting period, adding a new “Australian values” test and raising the standard for English language as part of a shake up of its immigration program.

The move comes in a week when Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced axing a temporary work visa popular with foreigners and replacing it with a tougher program in a bid to put “AustraliaFirst”.

“In a country town we need to all work together, know each other,” says Tamworth resident and refugee advocate Eddie Whitham. “We need to find a common ground. It’s not going to work if we have isolated people. We want to make our town work. The hope is that this will become a natural thing – that there will be no us and them.” On the traditional lands of the the Kamilaroi people, Tamworth in New South Wales is now home to people of more than 80 different nationalities and has an estimated population close to 43,000. Yet as ...

Germany dismisses 'Islam law' as integration debate resurfaces Mon Apr 3, 2017 3:46pm By Paul Carrel BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany has no plans to introduce an 'Islam law' codifying the rights and obligations of Muslims, a government spokesman said on Monday, dismissing an idea floated by allies of Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of federal elections in September.

Europe's refugee frontier: pushbacks, border closures in Serbia By Preethi Nallu, Refugees Deeply | March 28, 2017 at 10:23 AM Comments BELGRADE, Serbia, March 28 (UPI) -- More than 1,000 miles from home, Wael al-Zainab encountered a fortified fence amid the rich foliage, backed up by some of the 47,000-strong force patrolling the Hungarian border – a far cry from the warm reception he had hoped for.

GARASBALEY, Somalia (AP) — Tears fill Sahra Muse's eyes as she stares at her severely malnourished son, his thin arms crossed over his bloated stomach.

Before he succumbed to hunger, 7-year-old Ibrahim Ali had helped his mother herd the family's 30 cows on their farm in Toratorow, a village in Lower Shabelle region. But the family lost all they had to the growing drought.

Dangerous migrant traffic resumes in Mediterranean as 6000 rescued Brian Murphy twitter TWEET More Brussels: More than 6000 migrants have been rescued in the Mediterranean Sea in recent days while attempting to make the dangerous crossing from North Africa to Europe, an official said on Tuesday, marking the resumption of a stubborn flow of people fleeing poverty and war.

42am GMT Iraqis pouring out of Mosul find no place at crowded camps left right Displaced Iraqis wait to enter Hamam al-Alil camp south of Mosul, Iraq March 10, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem 1/9 left right Displaced Iraqis wait to enter Hamam al-Alil camp south of Mosul, Iraq March 10, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem 2/9 left right Displaced Iraqis wait to enter Hamam al-Alil camp south of Mosul, Iraq March 10, 2017.

Advertisement Migrant, refugee children live in ‘abysmal conditions’ BRUSSELS: Migrant children reaching Europe are exposed to sexual abuse and forced labour and lack access to education or healthcare, with some put in detention centres in a violation of their rights, the watchdog Council of Europe said on Wednesday.

March 14 (UPI) -- How serious is Venezuela's crisis? Bad enough that, in 2016, Venezuelans became the top U.S. asylum seekers , having surpassed Guatemalans, Salvadorans and Mexicans . Venezuelan asylum claims increased 150 percent from 2015 to 2016. Though Venezuela does not publicly circulate emigration information, estimates suggest that between 700,000 and 2 million Venezuelans have emigrated since 1999.

Immigration lawyer Alastair Clarke calls it a "travesty of justice." In Buffalo, N.Y., a client is currently living in a shelter, desperately awaiting news about how she might be reunited with her three young children, all under the age of 10. The woman fled the small East-African country of Burundi with her kids and landed in the United States with a visitor's visa, hopeful they could all eventually claim asylum in Canada, where her sister-in-law is a permanent resident, living in Winnipeg.

For six years now, Syrians have endured the loss and hardship caused by a protracted civil war. An estimated 4.9 million Syrians have fled their homeland, filling refugee camps in neighboring countries, and another six million remain displaced inside Syria’s borders. While Syrian government forces—backed by Russian air support—appear to have gained the upper hand in many places, recapturing the city of Aleppo in December, street battles and airstrikes continue to take place nearly every day.

Analysts said the British vote to quit the European Union, known as “Brexit,” and the ascent of President Trump had led many Dutch voters to weigh their options more carefully, and might have motivated more moderates to get to the polls. Mr. Rutte himself offered that theory on the night of the election.

44 PM With a stroke of red pen, Myanmar's Rohingya fear losing right to return by simon lewis and wa lone SITTWE, Myanmar (Reuters) - Since security forces swept into their villages in northwestern Myanmar late last year, around 75,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled across the nearby border to Bangladesh. Many now fear that the authorities in Myanmar could make their displacement permanent.

European court of justice says ban on visible wearing of political, philosophical or religious sign does not constitute direct discrimination

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) -- Europe's top human rights official said Wednesday he was "deeply concerned" about a new law in Hungary that allows authorities to detain all asylum-seekers in closed border camps, including families with children and unaccompanied minors over 14 years old.

Top photo: the author (left) with refugeeson the Greek island of Samos. Thesix richest nations on Earth three ofwhich are in Europeare currently home to just 9 percent of the world's refugees. These six countries represent over 50 percent of the global GDP.In 2015, the number of people who arrived in Europe by boat just over 1 million represented 0.14percent of the continent's total population.

1:12 AM Brussels tells EU states to detain more freely migrants awaiting deportation by gabriela baczynska BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union member states should be ready to detain more migrants who have no case for asylum to prevent them from running away before they are deported, the chief migration official with the bloc's executive arm in Brussels said.

The Mayor of Calais has reportedly banned the distribution of meals to migrants in a bid to prevent a new refugee camp from forming in the area, just months after the Jungle was demolished. Natacha Bouchart said she was “personally opposed, even if it is difficult to say so on a human level” to any humanitarian efforts in the region, including setting up showers and distributing meals, La Voix du Nord reports.

Boat captains tell their stories and use the boats that transported migrants to Europe, shedding light on their plight The Meneer Vrijdag boat in Amsterdam (Facebook/ Teun Castelein) Kate Carlisle Monday 27 February 2017 15:00 UTC Last update: Monday 27 February 2017 15:12 UTC Topics: Migrants Tags: Syria War , migrants , Amsterdam , Holland Show comments AMSTERDAM - The splotchy-coloured vessels that make up the two-boat fleet of Rederij Lampedusa canal tours are, in a way, on loan.

BERLIN (AP) — Migrants and their homes in Germany faced more than 3,500 attacks in 2016, a number that is “alarmingly high and cause for concern,” a German official said Monday, while adding that the crimes are being aggressively prosecuted and the numbers of such attacks are now falling.

No European governments have adopted the aggressive stance of President Trump, but they are tightening rules, building fences and intercepting immigrants at sea.

A growing number of Latin American migrants are choosing to put down roots in Mexico rather than use it as a thruway to the United States.

In Swedish migration and asylum politics 2015 and 2016 were turbulent years Demos Report Since 2000, the number of asylum seekers to Sweden has increased from 16,000 to 50,000-a-year but rocketed to 160,000 at the height of the migrant crisis. Now the report says the population of immigrants in the Scandinavian country is at a record 16 per cent out of a population of 9.6 million.

Britain will only take in 350 of the 3,000 child refugees it promised to accept under the so-called Dubs Amendment because cash-strapped councils have run out of space, the Government announced today. Ministers introduced the programme last year after coming under intense pressure to give sanctuary to lone children stranded on the Continent. Campaigners had called for 3,000 unaccompanied minors be taken in by Britain and this is the figure many expected to accept through the scheme.

Feb. 4, 2017, 7:18 AM Thomson Reuters Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski at a news conference at the conclusion of the APEC Summit in Lima. Peru has created a temporary visa that will allow thousands of Venezuelans to work and study in the country, part of a migratory policy that aims to “build bridges” and “not walls,” the Andean nation’s interior ministry said, according to Reuters.

BERLIN—Of the countless memorials testifying to Germany’s legacy of concentrated security and unchecked surveillance, the Stasi Museum in Berlin is one of the more explicit. Emerging in 1950 as the security arm of the German Democratic Republic, the Stasi earned particular infamy over its nearly four-decade existence for the spying operations it conducted on its own citizens, and how it wielded that intelligence to control people’s lives.

The lives of thousands of young Central Americans are in danger after a rescue programme targeting victims of gang violence was suspended under Donald Trump’s sweeping refugee ban. The Central American Minors (CAM) in-country refugee processing scheme was halted after the US president’s executive order froze the US refugee admissions programme for 120 days, ostensibly to beef up security checks.