Guatemala says it is willing to receive hundreds of deported children from US

Announcement comes a day after a US federal judge halted the deportation of 10 unaccompanied Guatemalan minors

Guatemala is ready and willing to receive about 150 unaccompanied children of all ages each week from the United States, the country’s president has said, a day after a US federal judge halted the deportation of 10 Guatemalan children.

Those children had already boarded a plane when a court responded to an emergency appeal on Sunday. They were later returned to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

Continue reading...

Home secretary suspends refugee family reunion applications until new, tighter rules are put in place – as it happened

Yvette Cooper says rules were designed years ago to help families separated by war but are being used in a different way now

And while we are talking about Blair-era Labour aides, Peter Hyman, who wrote speeches for Tony Blair and later worked for Keir Starmer in the run-up to the general election, has launched a new Substack blog. It is called Changing the Story, which tells you quite a lot about what he thinks is going wrong with No 10. Here is an extract from his first post.

Starmer is an ‘opportunity’ prime minister forced to become a ‘security’ one. And that’s why the government’s narrative is seen by some to be elusive.

Let me explain.

I remember well Tim Allan’s leaving drinks at Number 10 in the earlyish Blair era. In his fulsome farewell speech Tony Blair noted only half jokingly “Tim’s even more right wing than me..”

The same Tim Allan who as head of Portland had a contract to polish Vladimir Putin’s reputation?

Continue reading...

Woman, 81, among latest people charged over Palestine Action protests

Yvonne Hayward and 46 others, including a senior NHS doctor, charged under section 13 of the Terrorism Act

An 81-year-old woman is among 47 more people charged for allegedly showing support for the proscribed group Palestine Action during protests this summer.

More than half are over 60, according to details released by the Metropolitan police. The overall number of people charged now stands at 114.

Continue reading...

Global media stages Israel blackout in protest of Gaza war – The Jerusalem Post

  1. Global media stages Israel blackout in protest of Gaza war  The Jerusalem Post
  2. Israel’s response to the Nasser hospital attack is part of a dehumanization campaign  MSNBC News
  3. Media outlets demand Israel grant access to Gaza, halt attacks on journalists there  NPR
  4. RSF and Avaaz launch international media operation: “At the rate journalists are being killed in Gaza by the Israeli army, there will soon be no one left to keep you informed”  Reporters sans frontières
  5. The deadly toll on journalists in the Gaza war  The Guardian
Posted in Uncategorized

Boy, 11, shot dead after playing doorbell-ringing prank in Houston, police say

Boy struck several times as he and friends played ‘ding-dong ditch’ which involves ringing doorbell and running

An 11-year-old boy playing a common prank game of ringing doorbells in Houston, Texas, was shot dead on Saturday as he ran away from a house.

Authorities said the boy was struck several times as he and some friends were buzzing doorbells in an Eastside neighborhood.

Continue reading...

Russia suspected of jamming GPS on plane carrying Ursula von der Leyen – The Guardian

  1. Russia suspected of jamming GPS on plane carrying Ursula von der Leyen  The Guardian
  2. EU chief von der Leyen's plane hit by suspected Russian GPS jamming  BBC
  3. Russia suspected of jamming navigation on EU leader’s plane above Bulgaria  Al Jazeera
  4. Ursula von der Leyen’s plane hit by suspected Russian GPS interference  Financial Times
  5. Plane carrying EU’s top leader targeted by alleged Russian GPS jamming  CNN
Posted in Uncategorized

Climate change kills, Spanish PM tells deniers at launch of plan to tackle crisis

Pedro Sánchez says country’s deadly August wildfires show society needs to mobilise and take immediate action

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has announced a 10-point plan to prepare the country for the climate emergency, warning: “If we don’t want to bequeath our children a Spain that’s grey from fire and flames, or a Spain that’s brown from floods, then we need a Spain that’s greener.”

Sánchez said August’s heatwave-fuelled wildfires – which killed four people, burned through an area six times the size of Ibiza and required “the biggest human and technical deployment” ever seen in Spain – showed that immediate action must be taken to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis.

Continue reading...

Victorian Liberal members to push for regulated cannabis market at state council

Proposal to treat cannabis similarly to alcohol among 62 policy motions on draft agenda, alongside increased parental leave and scrapping net zero

Rank-and-file Victorian Liberal party members will use this month’s state council meeting to push for a regulated cannabis market for adult use, overhaul heritage and planning laws to tackle the housing crisis and introduce a full year of parental leave with a “daddy quota”.

The motions are among 62 on the draft agenda for the Victorian Liberal state council – the party’s annual general meeting – on 12-13 September. Other motions include proposals to scrap net zero targets, renters’ rights reforms and diversity quotas.

Continue reading...