UK unlawfully detained Sri Lankan migrants on Chagos island: court

UK unlawfully detained Sri Lankan migrants on Chagos island: court
The British Indian Ocean Territory, or Chagos Islands, lies halfway between Africa and Indonesia. (Getty Images)
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Updated 16 December 2024
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UK unlawfully detained Sri Lankan migrants on Chagos island: court

UK unlawfully detained Sri Lankan migrants on Chagos island: court
  • Sixty-four Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers were held in ‘prison-like’ camps on Diego Garcia
  • Most of the migrants were finally brought to the UK, this month, and given a chance to apply for asylum

LONDON: The UK government unlawfully detained Sri Lankan migrants on a remote military base for more than two years, the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) Supreme Court ruled on Monday.

Sixty-four Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers were held in “prison-like” camps on Diego Garcia, a British-American military base which is part of the Chagos islands — renamed in 1965 by the UK as BIOT — after being rescued at sea, according to the ruling.

Many of them claimed they were fleeing persecution in Sri Lanka, where Tamils are a historically oppressed minority, and sought international protection once they arrived on Diego Garcia.

Earlier this month, most of the migrants were finally brought to the UK and given a chance to apply for asylum from London.

Successive British foreign secretaries had been reluctant to allow them into the UK, fearing it would open a new irregular immigration route via the islands.

In a ruling published on Monday, Margaret Obi, the acting judge of the BIOT supreme court, said that the migrants were “unlawfully detained” for an “extraordinarily long time” on the military base, with the UK government now potentially facing heavy damages.

The Sri Lankans were held in a camp the size of a football pitch and alleged that they faced “prison-like” conditions, including a lack of privacy and an infestation of rats.

The camp was also rife with cases of migrants attempting to self-harm due to poor mental health.

While the BIOT commissioner claimed they were “free to leave” and therefore not detained, Obi ruled that this was “not a genuine choice,” since the migrants had sought international protection and could not return to Sri Lanka.

“It is unsurprising that the claimants feel as if they are in a prison; that is exactly what it is, in all but name,” the judge said.

The camp was manned by security guards at all times and there were “punishments” imposed for leaving the camp without permission, according to the ruling.

The asylum seekers were only granted bail earlier this year by Obi to access a trail and the beaches on the island, after months of being barred from leaving the camp.

In the ruling, the judge also found that in July the UK Home Office “impeded” the progress of international protection claims fearing potential implications for the previous Conservative government’s Rwanda scheme, which since then has been scrapped.


Former South Korea president Yoon indicted again as martial law investigation continues

Former South Korea president Yoon indicted again as martial law investigation continues
Updated 23 sec ago
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Former South Korea president Yoon indicted again as martial law investigation continues

Former South Korea president Yoon indicted again as martial law investigation continues
  • The new charges include obstruction of the exercise of others’ rights by abuse of authority, ordering the deletion of records and blocking the execution of arrest warrants
  • The impeached and deposed former leader has been jailed at Seoul Detention Center since earlier this month
SEOUL: South Korea’s jailed ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol was indicted on additional charges on Saturday as a special prosecutor continues investigating him for his short-lived declaration of martial law in December.
The new charges include obstruction of the exercise of others’ rights by abuse of authority, ordering the deletion of records and blocking the execution of arrest warrants, the prosecutor’s office said in a briefing.
Yoon has been on trial on charges of insurrection, which is punishable by death or life imprisonment, facing additional charges since the special prosecutor was appointed in June to take over the cases against him.
Yoon has denied all wrongdoing. His lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new charges.
The impeached and deposed former leader has been jailed at Seoul Detention Center since earlier this month, and a court earlier this week rejected his request to be freed from detention.

Cuba ends maximum age limit of 60 for presidential candidates

Cuba ends maximum age limit of 60 for presidential candidates
Updated 19 July 2025
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Cuba ends maximum age limit of 60 for presidential candidates

Cuba ends maximum age limit of 60 for presidential candidates
  • Communist-ruled island’s restriction of two five-year presidential terms and minimum age of 35 for candidates were left unchanged
  • Cuba’s current president, 65-year-old Miguel Diaz-Canel, was elected in 2018 and then re-elected in 2023

HAVANA: Cuba scrapped the maximum age limit of 60 for its presidential candidates as part of a constitutional reform approved Friday by parliament.

The communist-ruled island’s restriction of two five-year presidential terms and minimum age of 35 for candidates were left unchanged.

The measure, approved by the Council of State, imposes no age limits on people “in the full exercise of their physical and mental faculties, with... loyalty and revolutionary trajectory,” national assembly president Esteban Lazo said.

Former president Raul Castro, who at age 94 still holds a seat in the assembly, was the first to vote for the reform that will be on the books for the 2028 presidential elections.

Cuba’s current president, 65-year-old Miguel Diaz-Canel, was elected in 2018 and then re-elected in 2023. No favored successor has been publicly designated.

The inclusion of term and age limits in the 2019 constitution marked a radical shift after the six decades in which Fidel Castro and his brother Raul were in power.

In 2016, Fidel had to hand over the reins to his brother due to health problems. He died later that year, after nearly half a century leading Cuba.

Raul Castro officially became president in 2008, at the age of 76. In 2021, he retired as Communist Party first secretary, handing over power to Diaz-Canel.

The nation of nearly 10 million people is suffering its worst economic crisis in three decades, with shortages of all kinds of supplies, power outages, and unprecedented emigration.


El Salvador frees jailed Venezuelan migrants in US prisoner deal

El Salvador frees jailed Venezuelan migrants in US prisoner deal
Updated 19 July 2025
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El Salvador frees jailed Venezuelan migrants in US prisoner deal

El Salvador frees jailed Venezuelan migrants in US prisoner deal
  • The 252 men were accused – without evidence – of being gang members and flown to the notorious ‘anti-terror’ jail last March
  • On Friday, after months of legal challenges and political stonewalling, the men arrived at an airport near Caracas

MAIQUETIA, Venezuela: Hundreds of Venezuelans swept up in Donald Trump’s immigration dragnet were abruptly freed from a maximum security Salvadoran jail and sent home as part of a prisoner swap Friday, ending a months-long high-profile ordeal.

The 252 men were accused – without evidence – of being gang members and flown to the notorious CECOT “anti-terror” jail last March.

There, they were shackled, shorn and paraded before cameras – becoming emblematic of Trump’s immigration crackdown and drawing howls of protest.

On Friday, after months of legal challenges and political stonewalling, the men arrived at an airport near Caracas.

The Trump administration said they were released in exchange for 10 Americans or US residents held in Venezuela, and an undefined number of “political prisoners.”

“Today, we have handed over all the Venezuelan nationals detained in our country,” Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said on social media.

The migrants’ return to Venezuela sparked tearful celebrations from family members who had heard nothing from them in months.

“I don’t have words to explain how I feel!” said Juan Yamarte. “My brother (Mervin) is back home, back in Venezuela.”

Mervin’s mother said she could not contain her happiness. “I arranged a party and I’m making a soup,” she said.

The men had been deported from the United States under rarely used wartime powers and denied court hearings.

Exiled Salvadoran rights group Cristosal believes that just seven of the 252 men had criminal records.

Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro thanked Trump for “the decision to rectify this totally irregular situation.”

In the United States, families were also excited to see their loved ones return. One had been imprisoned for nearly a year.

Global Reach, an NGO that works for wrongly detained Americans, said one of the men freed was 37-year-old Lucas Hunter, held since he was “kidnapped” by Venezuelan border guards while vacationing in Colombia in January.

“We cannot wait to see him in person and help him recover from the ordeal,” it quoted his younger sister Sophie Hunter as saying.

Uruguay said one of its citizens, resident in the United States, was among those liberated after nine months in Venezuelan detention.

Another plane arrived at Maiquetia airport earlier Friday from Houston with 244 Venezuelans deported from the United States and seven children who Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said had been “rescued from the kidnapping to which they were being subjected.”

The children were among 30 who Caracas says remained in the US after their Venezuelan parents were deported.

Clamping down on migrants is a flagship pursuit of Trump’s administration, which has ramped up raids and deportations.

It has agreed with Maduro to send undocumented Venezuelans back home, and flights have been arriving near daily also from Mexico, where many got stuck trying to enter the United States.

Official figures show that since February, more than 8,200 people have been repatriated to Venezuela from the United States and Mexico, including some 1,000 children.

The Venezuelans detained in El Salvador had no right to phone calls or visits, and their relatives unsuccessfully requested proof of life.

Bukele had CECOT built as part of his war on criminal gangs, but he agreed to receive millions of dollars from the United States to house the Venezuelans there.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other rights groups have denounced the detentions as a violation of human rights.


Trump says he thinks 5 jets were shot down in India-Pakistan hostilities

Trump says he thinks 5 jets were shot down in India-Pakistan hostilities
Updated 19 July 2025
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Trump says he thinks 5 jets were shot down in India-Pakistan hostilities

Trump says he thinks 5 jets were shot down in India-Pakistan hostilities
  • The US president did not specify which side’s jets he was referring to
  • Indian general said in late May that India switched tactics after losses

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Friday up to five jets were shot down during recent India-Pakistan hostilities that began after an April militant attack in India-administered Kashmir, with the situation calming after a ceasefire in May.

Trump, who made his remarks at a dinner with some Republican US lawmakers at the White House, did not specify which side’s jets he was referring to.

“In fact, planes were being shot out of the air. Five, five, four or five, but I think five jets were shot down actually,” Trump said while talking about the India-Pakistan hostilities, without elaborating or providing further detail. Pakistan claimed it downed five Indian planes in air-to-air combat. India’s highest-ranking general said in late May that India switched tactics after suffering losses in the air on the first day of hostilities and established an advantage before a ceasefire was announced three days later. India also claimed it downed “a few planes” of Pakistan. Islamabad denied suffering any losses of planes but acknowledged its air bases suffered hits.

Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for the ceasefire between India and Pakistan that he announced on social media on May 10 after Washington held talks with both sides. India has differed with Trump’s claims that it resulted from his intervention and his threats to sever trade talks.

India’s position has been that New Delhi and Islamabad must resolve their problems directly and with no outside involvement.

India is an increasingly important US partner in Washington’s effort to counter China’s influence in Asia, while Pakistan is a US ally.

The April attack in India-administered Kashmir killed 26 men and sparked heavy fighting between the nuclear-armed Asian neighbors in the latest escalation of a decades-old rivalry.

New Delhi blamed the attack on Pakistan, which denied responsibility while calling for a neutral investigation. Washington condemned the attack but did not directly blame Islamabad.

On May 7, Indian jets bombed sites across the border that New Delhi described as “terrorist infrastructure,” setting off an exchange of attacks between the two countries by fighter jets, missiles, drones, and artillery that killed dozens until the ceasefire was reached.


Trump pulls US from World Health pandemic reforms

Trump pulls US from World Health pandemic reforms
Updated 19 July 2025
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Trump pulls US from World Health pandemic reforms

Trump pulls US from World Health pandemic reforms
  • Trump on returning to office on January 20 immediately began his nation’s withdrawal from the UN body
  • Senior officials disassociated the US from a series of amendments to the International Health Regulations

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration said Friday the United States was rejecting changes agreed last year for the World Health Organization on its pandemic response, saying they violated the country’s sovereignty.

Trump on returning to office on January 20 immediately began his nation’s withdrawal from the UN body, but the State Department said the language from last year would still have been binding on the United States.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who is a longtime critic of vaccines, said the changes “risk unwarranted interference with our national sovereign right to make health policy.”

“We will put Americans first in all our actions and we will not tolerate international policies that infringe on Americans’ speech, privacy or personal liberties,” they said in a joint statement.

Rubio and Kennedy disassociated the United States from a series of amendments to the International Health Regulations, which provide a legal framework for combatting diseases, agreed last year at the World Health Assembly in Geneva.

“We regret the US decision to reject the amendments,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement posted on X.

He stressed the amendments “are clear about member states sovereignty,” adding that the WHO cannot mandate lockdowns or similar measures.

The changes included a stated “commitment to solidarity and equity” in which a new group would study the needs of developing countries in future emergencies.

Countries have until Saturday to lodge reservations about the amendments. Conservative activists and vaccine skeptics in Britain and Australia, which both have left-leaning governments, have waged public campaigns against the changes.

The amendments came about when the Assembly failed at a more ambitious goal of sealing a new global agreement on pandemics.

Most of the world finally secured a treaty this May, but the United States did not participate as it was in the process of withdrawing from the WHO.

The United States, then under president Joe Biden, took part in the May-June 2024 negotiations, but said it could not support consensus as it demanded protections for US intellectual property rights on vaccine development.

Rubio’s predecessor Antony Blinken had welcomed the amendments as progress.

In their rejection of the amendments, Rubio and Kennedy said the changes “fail to adequately address the WHO’s susceptibility to the political influence and censorship – most notably from China – during outbreaks.”

WHO’s Ghebreyesus said the body is “impartial and works with all countries to improve people’s health.”