Latest Political refugees News
Singapore's affluent veneer hides repression and corruption, says son of its modern-day founder
LONDON (AP) — Singapore has become much more repressive, and corruption in the Asian financial hub has worsened in the decade since the death of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, according to his youngest son who fled to Britain to seek asylum from what he described as a campaign of persecution...
Banning UNRWA will lead to a vacuum and more suffering for Palestinians, the agency's chief says
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — The head of the U.N. agency caring for Palestinian refugees said Wednesday that newly passed Israeli laws effectively banning its activities in Israel will leave a vacuum that will cost more lives and create further instability in Gaza and the West Bank. ...
Uganda struggles to feed more than 1.7 million refugees as international support dwindles
RWAMWANJA, Uganda (AP) — For months, Agnes Bulaba, a Congolese refugee in Uganda, has had to get by without the food rations she once depended on. Her children scavenge among local communities for whatever they can find to eat. “As a woman who’s not married, life is hard,”...
Europe's human rights watchdog urges Cyprus to let migrants stuck in UN buffer zone seek asylum
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — A senior official with Europe’s top human rights watchdog has urged the government of ethnically divided Cyprus to allow passage to nearly three dozen asylum seekers out of a U.N.-controlled buffer zone where they have been stranded in tents for months. ...
Dutch asylum agency is fined 50,000 euros daily for an overcrowded center
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A Dutch court on Wednesday ordered the agency responsible for housing asylum-seekers to pay a 50,000-euro ($54,000) penalty for every day that more than 2,000 migrants stay at an overcrowded center in the northern Netherlands that has become a symbol for the...
Israel must step in if it bans the UN agency that is a lifeline for Gaza, UN says
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations stressed Tuesday that if Israel puts in place new laws cutting ties with the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, the Israeli government will have to meet their needs under international law. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a...
Israel approves two bills that could halt UNRWA's aid delivery to Gaza. What does that mean?
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel's parliament has passed two laws that could prevent the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, a main provider of aid to Gaza, from being able to continue its work. The laws ban the agency, UNRWA, from operating and cut all ties between the...
Founder of far-right English Defense League gets 18 months in prison for court contempt
LONDON (AP) — The founder of the far-right English Defense League was sentenced Monday to a year and a half in prison for violating a court order barring him from repeating libelous allegations against a Syrian refugee. Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson,...
Lee Kuan Yew's youngest son says the UK has granted him asylum from persecution in Singapore
LONDON (AP) — Lee Hsien Yang, the estranged brother of former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, said Tuesday that he is now a “political refugee” after the U.K. government granted him asylum from what he described as persecution at home. The Lee brothers are the sons...
Leaders of Hungary, Serbia and Slovakia propose setting up migrant 'hotspots' outside the EU
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The leaders of Hungary, Serbia and Slovakia on Tuesday proposed setting up facilities for hosting asylum-seekers outside the territory of the European Union, a solution they said would help stem illegal immigration they believe poses an existential threat to the bloc. ...
