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Some Families in Massachusetts Shelters Will Have to Document Efforts to Find Path Out

Voice of America’s immigration news - March 25, 2024 - 19:00
BOSTON — Families staying in overflow shelter sites in Massachusetts will soon have to document each month their efforts to find a path out of the overflow system, including looking for housing or a job, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey announced Monday.  Beginning May 1, families will have to be recertified monthly to remain eligible to stay in the state-run overflow sites.  They will need to show what steps they've taken to work toward independence, including applying for work authorization permits, participating in a workforce training program, submitting job applications, taking English classes or searching for housing, according to the administration.  Healey said the requirement is critical as a means of accountability.  “It’s important as we look to manage this responsibly,” she told reporters Monday.  Healey acknowledged there could be good reasons why certain individuals are not able to fulfill the requirements, but warned those who aren’t putting in the effort could lose their place in line for the state’s shelter system.  “If they don’t have a good reason for not fulfilling requirements then they will lose their spot,” she said. “The whole idea of this is to divert people from our emergency shelter system, to get them on a different path.”  The policy does not apply to sites operated by the United Way of Massachusetts Bay, a charitable organization.  Immigrant advocates say they’re worried the new regulations will complicate the lives of homeless migrants who are already focused on leaving the shelter system.  “We are deeply concerned that forcing families to reapply for emergency shelter each month will create unnecessary red tape, sow confusion, and ultimately, place more families on the street,” said Elizabeth Sweet of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition.  State and federal officials should instead focus on providing community service organizations the resources they need to support arrivals in pursuing work authorization, long-term housing and case management services, she said.  Massachusetts has been grappling with the growing influx of homeless migrant families seeking shelter.  The state’s Emergency Assistance family shelter system serves homeless families with children or pregnant women. Less than half of families in EA are new arrivals to Massachusetts, officials said.  Last fall, the administration announced that the system could no longer safely or responsibly expand and set up a waiting list. Families who qualify for emergency shelter and are on the waiting list are eligible to stay at the state’s overflow or safety-net sites, currently providing shelter for about 200 families.  The administration also announced Monday that it will be opening a new overflow shelter site next month in Chelsea at the former Chelsea Soldiers’ Home. The site is vacant and is eventually slated to be demolished.  At full capacity, the Chelsea site will be able to accommodate approximately 100 families.  The announcement comes after the Massachusetts Senate last week approved limits on how long homeless families can stay in emergency state shelters as part of an $850 million plan to fund the system at the center of the migrant crisis.  Under the bill approved late Thursday by a vote of 32-8, the state would limit maximum stays to nine months with the possibility of 90 more days for veterans, pregnant women and people who are employed or enrolled in a job training program.  Currently, there are no limits on the time a family can spend in emergency housing.  A bill already passed by the House would provide funding covering the rest of the 2024 fiscal year that ends June 30 and part of 2025. The two bills are expected to go to a conference committee to hammer out a single compromise bill before it's shipped to Democratic Governor Maura Healey's desk for her signature.

VOA Newscasts

Voice of America’s immigration news - March 25, 2024 - 19:00
Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Russian Massacre Suspects' Homeland Plagued by Poverty, Religious Strife

Voice of America’s immigration news - March 25, 2024 - 18:40
TALLINN, Estonia — The four men charged with the massacre at a Moscow theater have been identified by authorities as citizens of Tajikistan, some of the thousands who migrate to Russia each year from the poorest of the former Soviet republics to scrape out marginal existences.  Along with grinding poverty, Tajikistan is rife with religious tensions. Hard-line Islamists were one of the main forces opposing the government in a 1990s civil war that devastated the country. The militants claiming responsibility for the Moscow massacre that killed 139 people — a branch of the Islamic State group in neighboring Afghanistan — reportedly recruit heavily from Tajikistan.  The four suspects who were arraigned in a Moscow court late Sunday on terrorism charges appeared to have been beaten or injured during their detention. One was wheeled in on a gurney clad only in a hospital gown. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday described the suspects as “radical Islamists,” and he repeated his accusation that Ukraine might have played a role despite its strong denials.  Here is a look at the people, militant groups and political history connected to the Moscow attack:  The suspects  The eldest defendant is Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, 32, who may have been living in Russia illegally. He was shown sitting in a glass cage in the courtroom with a black eye and bruised face.  Mirzoyev reportedly had obtained a three-month residency permit in the city of Novosibirsk, but it had expired. In video of his interrogation shared on Russian social media, he reportedly says he recently was living in a Moscow hostel with another of the suspects. The court said he is married and has four children, but it was unclear if he was employed.    Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda, 30, is apparently unemployed. Registered as a resident in Russia, he could not remember in what city, according to Russian news reports. When he appeared in court, his head was awkwardly bandaged after Russian officers reportedly sawed off one of his ears.  Shamsidin Fariduni, 25, apparently had the most stable life of the four suspects. He was registered in Krasnogorsk, the Moscow suburb where the killings took place, and worked in a flooring factory. He reportedly told interrogators that he was offered 500,000 rubles (about $5,425) to carry out the attack — the equivalent of about 2.5 years of the average wage in Tajikistan.  Mukhammadsobir Faizov, 19, was brought into the courtroom on a gurney, with a catheter attached and one eye injured or missing, and he appeared to fade in and out of consciousness. He had worked as an apprentice in a barbershop in the declining textile-mill city of Ivanovo, but reports said he left that job in November. Islamic tensions in Tajikistan  As many as 1.5 million Tajik migrants are estimated to be in Russia after fleeing the poverty and unemployment that plague their landlocked, mountainous country. An array of mineral resources are present in Tajikistan, but the industry has been slow to develop because of belated foreign investment and poor geological data, among other factors.  Although its nearly 10 million people are overwhelmingly Muslim, tensions connected to Islam are common.  Islamists were a key opponent during a 1992-97 civil war in which the government killed as many as 150,000 people and devastated the economy. When the war ended, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon took steps to sharply curtail religious freedoms.    The government limited how many mosques could be built, prohibited women and children under 18 from attending mosques at all, and banned religious instruction outside the home for children. Critics say the limits encouraged people to turn to underground and radical Muslim factions via the internet.  Tajikistan has not made any official statement about the arrest of the four men suspected in the attack. But Rahmon was quoted by his government's press service as telling Putin in a phone call that “terrorists have neither nationality, nor a homeland, nor religion.”  Islamic State vs. Russia  Most attacks tied to Islamic extremists that afflicted Russia in the past quarter century were committed by Chechen separatists, such as the 2004 Beslan school seizure that killed more than 300 people — or were blamed on them, as in the 1999 apartment bombings that triggered the second Russia-Chechnya war.  But attacks that began in 2015 were claimed by or attributed to the Islamic State group. The group opposed Russia’s intervention in Syria, where Moscow sought to tip the balance in favor of President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.  The U.S. government has said it had intelligence confirming IS was responsible for the weekend attack in Moscow.  After IS declared a caliphate in large parts of Syria and Iraq in June 2014, thousands of men and women from around the world came to join the extremist group. Those included thousands from the former Soviet Union, among them hundreds from Tajikistan.  One of the most prominent figures to join IS was Gulmurod Khalimov, who was an officer with Tajikistan’s special forces before defecting and joining IS in Syria in 2015. In 2017, the Russian military said Khalimov was killed in a Russian airstrike in Syria.  IS claimed responsibility for the 2015 bombing of a Russian airliner that was bringing tourists home from the Egyptian resort Sharm al-Sheik. Two years later, it claimed to be behind the suicide bombing of a subway train in St. Petersburg that killed 15 people.  Two weeks before the Moscow theater massacre, Russian officials said they had wiped out members of an IS cell that was planning to attack a synagogue. Earlier in the month, it reported killing six IS fighters in the Ingushetia region adjacent to Chechnya.

Islamic State-Khorasan Criticizes Taliban in Statement Praising Russia Attackers

Voice of America’s immigration news - March 25, 2024 - 18:25
washington — The Islamic State-Khorasan terrorist group released a statement in Pashto on Monday glorifying Friday’s attack on a concert in Moscow and scolding the ruling Afghan Taliban for seeking relations with the United States, Russia, China and other countries. The 30-page statement was published on social media platforms and sent to journalists on Monday, but it did not take responsibility for the Moscow attack. Instead, it focused on criticizing and mocking the Taliban in Afghanistan, which has long been an enemy of the IS-K group. Islamic State-Khorasan, sometimes also called IS-Khorasan, or ISKP, is the regional affiliate of the larger Islamic State militant group, which took credit for Friday’s attack that killed 137 people. Monday’s statement was titled, “After Moscow’s Attack: The Sorrow and Fear of Militias.” The “militias” is apparently referring to the Afghan Taliban. The text of the statement is a fierce polemic against the Afghan Taliban. It also labels the Taliban as allies of the United States, Russia, China, Pakistan and Tajikistan. The Taliban condemned the attack in the hours after it happened on Friday, calling it a terrorist attack and a violation of human standards. IS-K’s statement accuses the Taliban of embracing the values of “infidel” countries. “Talib militias are now part of the infidel nation. It is, therefore, natural that they will sympathize with them and will share sorrows with the infidels,” the statement says, while referring to the Afghan Taliban’s condemnation of the Moscow attack. The 30 pages of the text are embedded with pictures of the alleged attackers of the concert, IS-K’s other attacks in Afghanistan, and photos of Taliban leaders and ministers standing with U.S., Chinese, Iranian and Pakistani officials. The polemic against the Taliban also references Russian attacks on Islamic State targets in Syria, asking why the Taliban expressed sympathy for Moscow. “Has Russia this right to destroy our Umma [Muslims] mosques, seminaries, homes and towns with blind bombardment?” the statement asks. ISKP was formed in 2015 by the disgruntled Pakistani Taliban in a region close to Afghanistan. The United Nations has said that as of June 2023, IS-K fighters and family members numbered between 4,000 to 6,000.

Calls Grow in Israel to Draft Ultra-Orthodox for Military Service

Voice of America’s immigration news - March 25, 2024 - 18:06
An Israeli law that grants exemptions from military service for ultra-Orthodox Jews is due to expire at the end of the month, paving the way for their possible conscription. Most ultra-Orthodox oppose serving in the army and their parties are threatening to topple the government if the status quo is changed. Linda Gradstein reports for VOA from Jerusalem. Videographer: Ricki Rosen

India, China Seek Influence in Nepal as Infrastructure Projects Stall

Voice of America’s immigration news - March 25, 2024 - 18:00
Highway and airport projects are yet to begin in Nepal, as India and China compete for influence in the Himalayan country through infrastructure projects. Analysts and politicians say Nepal’s government is performing a balancing act to stay neutral in the contest. Henry Wilkins reports.

VOA Newscasts

Voice of America’s immigration news - March 25, 2024 - 18:00
Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Iraq Central Bank Says Regulated Dollar Transactions Rising

Voice of America’s immigration news - March 25, 2024 - 17:54
baghdad — Iraq, fighting a booming currency black market, has considerably increased overseas dollar transactions through the official global SWIFT system, the Central Bank vice governor said Monday. With dollars dominating the country's economy, Baghdad has imposed a series of restrictions on the use of American greenbacks domestically. At the end of 2022 the country's banking sector also adopted the international financial messaging system known as SWIFT as part of the reforms, to help tackle money laundering and ensure respect for international sanctions. Oil-rich Iraq has no shortage of dollars, with foreign currency reserves of more than $100 billion (92 billion euros). But experts say tax evasion, the black market and dollar smuggling to countries and entities facing United States sanctions, mainly neighboring Iran, have increased demand for foreign currencies. Transactions through the Central Bank electronic platform — which ensures compliance with SWIFT — have considerably increased, the bank's Deputy Governor Ammar Khalaf told AFP. Many "foreign trade transactions are now being conducted via the platform," he said. "At the beginning of 2023, transactions were at $50 million per day. Now, we have around $200 million, which is consistent with the size of Iraq's economy," he added. Iraqi banks wanting to access dollar reserves held in the United States must make transfers through the electronic system. The U.S. Federal Reserve will then examine the requests and block them if it finds them suspicious. "We noticed that rejections have decreased recently because the banks understood international requirements" and traders know better what is needed to transfer their money, Khalaf said. But the black market is still thriving. The official exchange rate is fixed by the government at 1,320 dinars to the dollar. On unofficial markets the dinar has been trading at 1,470 per dollar. Iraq has close commercial ties with Iran, which also wields considerable political influence in Baghdad where its Iraqi allies dominate parliament and back the current government. Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani acknowledged last year that sanctions preventing dollar transfers to Iranian banks had driven Iraqi traders to the black market. In late November, the government announced steps to encourage importers of goods like cigarettes, cars, gold and mobile phones to use official channels to obtain dollars. Iraqi authorities have banned more than 20 Iraqi banks from conducting dollar transactions in accordance with U.S. regulations regarding sanctions and against money laundering. "We are in constant contact with the American Treasury in an attempt to lift the ban," Khalaf said, hoping that talks "will yield good and positive results." The banned banks are restricted from dealing in dollars but can operate local transactions.

US Adds 12,000 Special Immigrant Visas for Afghans; Advocates Say More Needed

Voice of America’s immigration news - March 25, 2024 - 17:52
washington — U.S. lawmakers included in the $1.2 trillion package of spending bills an additional 12,000 Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) for Afghans who supported the U.S. mission in Afghanistan and extended the program through the end of 2025. While advocates welcomed the news, they said it is still 20,000 short of what they requested. President Joe Biden signed the much-awaited spending bills into law Saturday, hours after Congress approved them, avoiding the possibility of a partial government shutdown. Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge, a refugee resettlement agency, wrote in a statement that it is "encouraging" to see congressional bipartisanship. "But it's still deeply concerning that it took the Biden administration and Congress being on the brink of a government shutdown to take action." The SIV program is a congressionally authorized program with a limit of 38,500 SIVs available. It offers a path to permanent residence that can eventually lead to U.S. citizenship. The application process for SIVs, including decision-making and approval, takes an average of three years, while resettlement through the refugee program can take up to five years. Applications to either program begin outside the United States. Representative Michael McCaul, a Republican and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the 12,000 extra SIVs is a "great response" to the promise of evacuating Afghans who worked for the U.S. government in Afghanistan. "Well, we promised them, we will get them out. The Afghan partners, the interpreters, we left them behind,” McCaul told the CBS news show "Face the Nation" in an interview broadcast Sunday. “And that's the biggest sin of the Afghan evacuation. I think the 12,000 SIVs is a great response and a great start to that.” The Biden administration and Senate Republican lawmakers had asked for 20,000 SIVs. "These visas are essential to enable our wartime allies to receive the opportunity they earned to resettle in the United States, and will ensure the SIV program remains viable," Shawn VanDiver, president of the U.S.-based NGO #AfghanEvac, wrote in a statement. The United States and its allies left Afghanistan in August 2021 after nearly 20 years of war, evacuating nearly 130,000 people in the chaotic last weeks in Kabul. Through Operation Allies Welcome, about 88,500 Afghan nationals arrived in the U.S. and resettled in communities across the country. VanDiver said there is still work to be done, including passing the remaining provisions in the Afghan Allies Protection Act (AAPA) of 2023 and the Afghan Adjustment Act, which would allow a pathway to permanent residency for tens of thousands of Afghans admitted to the U.S. in 2021 and 2022 for humanitarian reasons. "While this won't be enough visas to help all our Afghan allies, this gives us some breathing room and will show our partners in America's longest war that we won't leave them behind," VanDiver wrote. Vignarajah said if the remaining provisions of the AAPA and the Afghan Adjustment Act were in place, it would reduce the demand for Special Immigrant Visas from Afghan evacuees seeking long-term stability in this country. "The additional Afghan visas are a welcome stopgap measure, but since the budget negotiations are already underway for fiscal year 2025, we call on Congress to continue working to secure protections for vulnerable Afghans who need to seek refuge in the U.S. so that they aren't living in legal limbo," she added.

US High Court Again Confronts Abortion, This Time Over Access to Medication 

Voice of America’s immigration news - March 25, 2024 - 17:49
WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will again wade into the fractious issue of abortion this week when it hears arguments about a medication used in the most common way to end a pregnancy. The case has profound implications for millions of women and, perhaps, for the race for the White House. Two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and cleared the way for bans or severe restrictions on abortion in many Republican-led states, abortion-rights opponents on Tuesday will ask the high court to ratify a ruling from a conservative federal appeals court that would limit access to the medication mifepristone, which was used in nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the United States last year. That decision to reverse Roe had immediate political consequences, with Democrats making the case that the court had taken away a right that women held for half a century, and party members won some elections as a result. Even conservative-leaning states like Kansas and Ohio voted against abortion restrictions. If the court were to uphold restrictions on medication abortions, it could roil the election landscape in races for Congress and the presidency. By rolling back Food and Drug Administration changes to the use of mifepristone, the ruling would cut off access to the drug through the mail and impose other restrictions, even in states where abortion remains legal. The restrictions would shorten the time when mifepristone can be used in pregnancy, to seven weeks from 10 currently. Belief in safety Most adults in the U.S., 55%, believe medication abortion pills are very or somewhat safe when taken as directed by a doctor, according to a KFF poll from May 2023. A decision should come by late June. But no matter the outcome, the Supreme Court has not seen its last abortion case. Legal battles are pending over state restrictions, and new federal limits are likely if former President Donald Trump, Republicans' presumptive nominee for 2024, returns to the White House. Next month, the justices will hear arguments about whether a federal law on emergency treatment at hospitals must include abortions, even in states that have otherwise banned them. Mifepristone, made by New York-based Danco Laboratories, is one of two drugs, along with misoprostol, used in medication abortions. Their numbers have been rising for years, and they accounted for 63% of the more than 1 million abortions in the U.S. last year, according to an estimate by the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights. More than 5 million people have used mifepristone since 2000. Mifepristone is taken first to dilate the cervix and block the hormone progesterone, which is needed to sustain a pregnancy. Misoprostol is taken 24 to 48 hours later, causing the uterus to contract and expel pregnancy tissue. Misoprostol only Health care providers have said that if mifepristone is no longer available or is too hard to obtain, they would switch to using only misoprostol, which is somewhat less effective in ending pregnancies. The number of medication abortions is rising for several reasons. Taking pills at home to end a pregnancy is less invasive than surgery, more convenient than having to travel to an abortion clinic and more private, allowing women to avoid anti-abortion-rights protesters who picket clinics. It's becoming even easier to get the two drugs in some states now that CVS and Walgreens have announced pilot programs to dispense the pills at their pharmacies. For women living in states with abortion bans or restrictions, mail order delivery may be their only practical option, said Julie F. Kay, executive director of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine. The medication is sent by providers in states that have laws meant to shield them from any legal trouble for working with people who live in states that don't permit medication abortions. The pills cost $150 and usually arrive within three to five days, Kay said.  Last year, 85,000 women worked with order-by-mail abortion provider Aid Access to obtain the medication, said Dr. Rebecca Gomperts, the group's founder. Of those, 50,000 live in states with abortion restrictions, she said. The current case followed closely the Supreme Court decision in June 2022 that overturned the constitutional right to an abortion. That ruling has led to bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy in 14 states, with some exceptions, and once cardiac activity can be detected, which is around six weeks, in two others. Abortion opponents filed their challenge to mifepristone the following November and initially won a sweeping ruling six months later from U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump nominee in Texas, which would have revoked the drug’s approval entirely. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals left intact the FDA’s initial approval of mifepristone. But it would reverse changes regulators made in 2016 and 2021 that eased some conditions for administering the drug. The Supreme Court put the appeals court's modified ruling on hold, then agreed to hear the case, though Justices Samuel Alito, the author of the decision overturning Roe, and Clarence Thomas would have allowed some restrictions to take effect while the case proceeded. Jeopardy seen The doctors and groups that initially wanted mifepristone pulled from the market now say, in their main Supreme Court brief, that those recent changes “jeopardize women's health throughout the nation" and didn't follow the rigorous procedures required by federal law to alter safety restrictions on drugs. “The Supreme Court’s got a chance to decide whether some agencies get a pass in decision-making,” said Sarah Parshall Perry, a lawyer at the Heritage Foundation who supports the challenge. Pregnant women who wish to take mifepristone, for example, no longer need an in-person visit with a doctor before getting a prescription, said Erin Hawley, the Alliance Defending Freedom lawyer who is representing the abortion-rights opponents at the Supreme Court. "Our clients are asking the FDA to put back in place safeguards that were there for nearly 20 years,” Hawley told The Associated Press. But the administration said the elimination of doctor visits and the other changes were the product of more than 20 years of experience in regulating mifepristone, including evaluating safety data and studies of thousands of women. Its view is shared by several leading medical organizations, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Seven former FDA commissioners said in a court filing that the agency exercised special care in its initial approval of mifepristone because it was dealing with an abortion drug. Subsequent changes were "driven by a straightforward and thorough application of the expert scientific review process that Congress entrusted to FDA,” they wrote.

Florida's Governor Signs One of Country's Most Restrictive Social Media Bans for Minors

Voice of America’s immigration news - March 25, 2024 - 17:11
TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Florida will have one of the country's most restrictive social media bans for minors — if it withstands expected legal challenges — under a bill signed by Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Monday.  The bill will ban social media accounts for children under 14 and require parental permission for 15- and 16-year-olds. It was slightly watered down from a proposal DeSantis vetoed earlier this month, a week before the annual legislative session ended. The new law was Republican Speaker Paul Renner’s top legislative priority. It takes effect January 1.  “A child in their brain development doesn’t have the ability to know that they’re being sucked into these addictive technologies and to see the harm and step away from it, and because of that we have to step in for them,” Renner said at the bill-signing ceremony held at a Jacksonville school.  The bill DeSantis vetoed would have banned minors under 16 from popular social media platforms regardless of parental consent. But before the veto, he worked out compromise language with Renner to alleviate the governor's concerns and the Legislature sent DeSantis a second bill.  Several states have considered similar legislation. In Arkansas, a federal judge blocked enforcement of a law in August that required parental consent for minors to create new social media accounts.  Supporters in Florida hope the bill will withstand legal challenges because it would ban social media formats based on addictive features such as notification alerts and auto-play videos, rather than on their content.  Renner said he expects social media companies to “sue the second after this is signed. But you know what? We’re going to beat them. We’re going to beat them and we’re never, ever going to stop."  DeSantis also acknowledged the law will be challenged on First Amendment issues and bemoaned the fact the “Stop Woke Act” he signed into law two years ago was recently struck down by an appeals court with a majority of Republican-appointed judges. They ruled it violated free speech rights by banning private business from including discussions about racial inequality in employee training.  “Any time I see a bill, if I don’t think it’s constitutional, I veto it,” said DeSantis, a lawyer, expressing confidence that the social media ban will be upheld. “We not only satisfied me, but we also satisfied, I think, a fair application of the law and Constitution.”  The bill overwhelmingly passed both chambers, with some Democrats joining a majority of Republicans who supported the measure. Opponents argued it was unconstitutional and that the government shouldn't interfere with decisions parents make with their children.  “This bill goes too far in taking away parents’ rights,” Democratic Rep. Anna Eskamani said in a news release. “Instead of banning social media access, it would be better to ensure improved parental oversight tools, improved access to data to stop bad actors, alongside major investments in Florida’s mental health systems and programs.”

VOA Newscasts

Voice of America’s immigration news - March 25, 2024 - 17:00
Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Kyiv Endures Another Russia Bombardment as Moscow Reels from Concert Hall Massacre

Voice of America’s immigration news - March 25, 2024 - 17:00
Russia launched missile strikes against Kyiv on Monday for the third time in five days, part of an apparent escalation of aerial bombardment targeting Ukrainian cities. Islamic State takes responsibility for a deadly attack at a Moscow concert hall as Russia pushes the narrative of suspecting Ukraine. The wife of Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza says the lives of the jailed political prisoners in Russia who have spoken out against Vladimir Putin are in deeper danger following the terrorist attack Friday in Moscow.

Scores of Visitors Gather by Tidal Basin to Honor 'Stumpy'

Voice of America’s immigration news - March 25, 2024 - 16:56
washington — Thousands of cherry blossoms began blooming earlier this month in Washington, bringing scores of tourists from around the world to see them at the Tidal Basin. But this year many tourists are coming to see one tree in particular: Stumpy. Stumpy, a short cherry tree in poor condition, looks like it shouldn't be in any shape to grow blossoms — particularly as floods routinely soak the tree's roots. Every year, however, it blooms, giving the tree a reputation as a symbol of hope, resilience and relatability among its fans. This year's cherry blossom season will be the last for Stumpy, along with more than 150 other cherry trees. The removal is part of a $113 million project announced earlier this month by the National Park Service to rebuild and raise the seawalls around the Tidal Basin and along part of the Potomac River. Spurred by climate change, floods have worsened along the basin, now occurring twice a day, soaking the roots of many cherry trees and posing a risk to their health. As a measure to preserve the thousands of cherry trees along the basin, 158 of them will need to be removed to make space for the project. On Sunday, thousands of visitors arrived at the basin to say goodbye to Stumpy, which was fenced off. Visitors crowded around the fence to take photos of the tree. Some had put up signs on the fence reading "Save Stumpy." The movement to save Stumpy has gained traction among those who would like to see the tree transplanted. An online petition to save the tree, calling Stumpy "our local cherry blossom hero" collected more than 600 signatures as of Monday. The Park Service has announced that while it is unfortunate that the cherry trees need to be removed, there is no way around their removal because the agency needs to make space for the project. According to NBC News, there is no way to save Stumpy either, as it likely wouldn't survive the transplanting process. Mike Litterst, spokesperson for the Park Service, said, "There is so little of that tree left to transplant," adding that even if it could be taken out of the ground, it could die of transplant shock. A group of tourists visiting Stumpy from Massachusetts and Maryland agreed that although the removal of Stumpy and the other cherry trees will be sad, it's a necessary measure to stem the impacts climate change has had on the basin. One tourist, who preferred not to give their name, said, "we understand the necessity" of the project, saying "We were here yesterday, and the wind was so strong that it was blowing the waves over the bank, so all of this area [around Stumpy] was flooded." Another, who also preferred to remain anonymous, said, "It's unfortunate that they're going to lose … [the] trees, especially since some of them are heritage trees … but this isn't the only place where this kind of climate change induced incursion of water is happening." The Park Service, in a statement released earlier this month, said, "Age, rising sea levels and poor drainage have taken a toll on the Tidal Basin and West Potomac Park seawalls." It added: "As a result of the settling and sea level rise, water flows over portions of the seawalls twice a day during normal tidal conditions," necessitating the project. Upon completion of the project, set for 2027, 455 trees will be planted, 274 of which will be cherry trees. The Park Service will also partner with the U.S. National Arboretum to collect clippings and create genetic matches of Stumpy. The cherry trees were a gift from Japan in 1912 as a symbol of friendship between the U.S. and Japan. Staff at the Japanese Embassy visited the tidal basin last week to honor Stumpy. The embassy in a post on the X platform thanked the Park Service for caring for the trees over the years, saying that Stumpy is "one of our most beloved symbols of [Japanese-American] friendship." The post added that Stumpy's "legacy will live on, nurturing future generations of friendship."

Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Judicial Review of Mixed Questions, Even Those That Are Fact Intensive

The Supreme Court issued an important victory for noncitizens seeking cancellation of removal and the principle of judicial review of agency action on March 19. And despite the current court’s tenuous regard for stare decisis – the idea that “today’s Court should stand by yesterday’s decisions” – in Wilkinson v. Garland, the Supreme Court reaffirmed […]

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US Vice President: Banning TikTok 'Not at All the Goal'

Voice of America’s immigration news - March 25, 2024 - 16:12
 Austin, Texas — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said the Biden administration has no intention to ban TikTok, the popular short video application from Chinese company ByteDance.  Harris told ABC’s “This Week” program on Sunday that a ban was “not at all the goal or the purpose of this conversation.”    The White House urged the Senate last week to swiftly advance a bill that would force ByteDance to sell TikTok over privacy and national security concerns within six months or face a ban.   U.S. officials and lawmakers worry that the Chinese government could access American consumers’ data on the platform, which could also be used to push a pro-Beijing agenda. ByteDance denies it would provide such private data to the Chinese government, despite reports indicating it could be at risk. The bill passed in the House on March 13 with overwhelming bipartisan support but has yet to advance in the Senate.   China has firmly opposed any forced sale of TikTok.    TikTok has urged its American users to call their representatives and tell them not to support the bill, leading to hundreds of phone calls to some senators, including a few death threats, according to The Associated Press.  Despite the security and privacy concerns, many Americans are still enthusiastic about the app.  An American social media influencer, who cannot reveal her real name due to her contract with a talent agency, has been on TikTok since 2021 and saw the popularity of her hairdressing videos explode to hundreds of thousands of views.  She had no idea TikTok was owned by a Chinese company until it gave her a notification telling her to call her congressional representative, and then she read the news reports.    "I am worried that I won't be able to use TikTok," she told VOA. "I think the communities on TikTok are great. You feel like you are part of a super large community when you watch a video. There are so many comments, [and] you can connect to so many more people."   TikTok has about 170 million users in the U.S., though its growth rate among youth last year hit a snag, The Wall Street Journal reported. Citing analytics company Data.ai., the Journal reported the average monthly users between 18 and 24 dropped nearly 9% from 2022 to 2023. But the report said the drop probably has more to do with young people being too busy after the COVID-19 pandemic, when TikTok users skyrocketed, than with concerns over what the Chinese government may access.  Texas-based cereal maker Greg Bastin started using TikTok during the pandemic.  "I plan to use influencers on TikTok to help market my products, as I know it can be a powerful way to increase sales and create entertaining content at an affordable price," he told VOA.    But Bastin admits the security and privacy concerns mean he would not post personal content on TikTok. "Giving up basic data rights is the price of admission for using social media platforms today,” he said.  The Financial Times this month reported that TikTok generated a record $16 billion in revenue in the U.S. last year, and ByteDance could soon overtake Facebook and Instagram’s parent company Meta in global sales, though most of ByteDance’s income comes from China. James Lewis, senior vice president of the strategic technologies program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told VOA that if there are disruptions to TikTok, other short video platforms like Instagram will certainly benefit. But he said most American TikTok users are not going to quickly jump ship.   "People use TikTok for a reason. They are not going to switch.” he said. “So, I think that it's wishful thinking to say that if you close TikTok down, everyone will move to another platform."    A number of governments and institutions have banned TikTok on employee and contractor devices since 2022 over security concerns, including in Australia, Britain, Canada, Europe, New Zealand, Taiwan and the United States. India has banned TikTok and several other Chinese applications since 2020 after a deadly border clash with Chinese troops.  In 2020, then-President Donald Trump issued a presidential order banning TikTok and Chinese messaging app WeChat in the U.S. and required ByteDance to either divest TikTok or cease business.  Court orders stopped the move, and President Joe Biden revoked and replaced the order with a fresh investigation. Biden’s administration is supporting the legislation for TikTok to be divested or face a ban, while Trump this month appeared to walk back on his previous aim to ban the app.  The former president said in a call-in interview with CNBC's "Squawk Box" that he believed TikTok still posed a threat to national security but banning it would help Facebook, which he has attacked since his 2020 election loss. Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.

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Voice of America’s immigration news - March 25, 2024 - 16:00
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