UNITED STATES
Immigrant release ordered
A federal judge has ordered the government to release from detention centers immigrant children and their mothers caught entering the nation illegally from Mexico. In a filing late on Friday, California US District Judge Dolly Gee rejected the government’s request that she reconsider her ruling and ordered it to implement remedies by Oct. 23, saying the children and their mothers must be released without unnecessary delay. Two centers in Texas and one in Pennsylvania held about 1,400 people recently, mostly Central Americans seeking asylum after fleeing violence at home. The government had fought the judge’s ruling, saying that the facilities had been turned into short-term processing centers. However, Gee said in her order that the government remains in violation of a longstanding legal agreement that bans immigrant children from being held in secure unlicensed facilities.
JORDAN
UN touts female education
The head of the UN Population Fund said the agency’s “new mantra” is to keep girls in school until age 18 “in every nook and cranny of the world,” as a key means of slowing population growth. The UN expects the world’s population to reach 8.5 billion by 2030 and 9.7 billion by 2050. Agency executive director Babatunde Osotimehin said women tend to have fewer children if their first is born after they have turned 18 years old. He previously said that one in three girls is married before the age of 18. Osotimehin at a conference in Jordan on Friday said that pushing for primary education is not enough, adding that “we must up our game” as UN members prepare to ratify ambitious development goals for 2030 next month.
VENEZUELA
Border closure extended
President Nicolas Maduro is extending indefinitely the closure of a popular border crossing with Colombia and declaring a 60-day state of emergency in several western cities. Maduro earlier in the week announced a 72-hour closure of the normally busy crossing in Tachira State in response to a shooting of three army officers while patrolling for smugglers. On Friday night, he said the crossing would remain closed until the assailants are caught, adding that the state of emergency would allow security forces to reassert control over the long-volatile border. Maduro blamed smugglers and paramilitaries from Colombia for violence that has spilled over the 2,200km border in recent years. Opponents decried Maduro’s move and said that it might be an attempt to thwart defeat in upcoming legislative elections.
INDIA
Kashmiri separatist detained
Kashmiri leader Zameer Ahmed said that police have detained a top Kashmiri separatist leader after he landed at New Delhi’s airport ahead of talks between Indian and Pakistani security advisers. Ahmed said Shabir Ahmed Shah yesterday flew in from Indian Kashmir for a meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s national security adviser Sartaj Aziz, who is scheduled to arrive in the Indian capital today. Shah and two colleagues were driven away from the airport by the New Delhi police, said Ahmed, who is also detained by the police. India opposes Pakistani leaders meeting with Kashmiri separatist leaders in New Delhi. The police in Indian Kashmir confirmed Shah’s detention in New Delhi.
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
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