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Trump's immigration ban sparks massive protests at airports across US

[email protected] (Agencies)
January 29, 2017

New York, Jan 29: Hundreds of thousands of people gathered at airports across the US to protest the ban announced by President Donald Trump on immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries, extending solidarity to those affected as chaos and fear gripped individuals trying to enter the country.

trump refugee impact-1

As news of immigrants, even those holding green cards, being held and banned from flying into the US and entering the country spread, people started gathering at nation's airports, holding banners opposing Trump's action.

For hours, the crowds stood outside the arrival terminal of city's busiest John F Kennedy international airport, raising slogans blasting Trump's order suspending entry of all refugees to the US for 120 days, barring Syrian refugees indefinitely and blocking entry into the country for 90 days for citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

The ban impacted several individuals, who had valid US visas and green cards and who had travelled abroad for work or on personal visits. Similar scenes of chaos and protests quickly poured in from other key ports of entry in Boston, Los Angeles and in Houston.

Hapless individuals, whose family members were stuck at airports or were not allowed to board flights to the US took to social media to vent their anger and frustration.

"Three weeks ago my wife and my newborn daughter went to Iran so that she can visit her grandparents for the first time. It is not clear they can come back to the US. And this feeling eats me alive," an individual Amin Karbasi, who one person pointed out was a professor at Yale University, wrote on Twitter.

Lawyers soon began to throng the country's airports, offering to provide legal assistance to individuals and families who were detained at the airports. Volunteer lawyers, sitting on the floor at airport terminals, worked pro-bono on a preparing habeas corpus petitions for detainees at JFK.

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) National said on Twitter that "lawyers are stationed at airports across US. If you know someone entering country, tell them not to sign anything before talking to lawyer."

Partial relief to those detained at airports or in transit came as US judge Ann Donnelly in an order temporarily halted removal of individuals detained in the country.

The ruling by the federal judge in New York came after the ACLU filed a petition on behalf of two Iraqi men, detained at the JFK International Airport.

In the ruling the Judge said government could not remove "individuals with refugee applications approved by US Citizenship and Immigration Services as part of the US Refugee Admissions Programme, holders of valid immigrant and non-immigrant visas, and other individuals from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen legally authorized to enter the US."

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman applauded the stay ordered, saying Trump's executive action is "unconstitutional and in clear violation" of federal law.

"I will do everything within my power to help lead the fight to permanently strike it down. I will not allow voiceless refugees, and all those targeted by this reckless action, to be victimized by an unlawful, unconstitutional, and fundamentally un-American decree from the President," he said.

The protesters held banners that read 'No ban, no wall', 'Christians against the Muslim ban', 'Say it loud and clear, refugees are welcome here', 'No human is illegal', 'Immigrants, refugees welcome'.

Extending their solidarity with the protest against the ban on Muslims arriving in the country, cabdrivers at JFK said they will stop work and not ferry travelers for an hour.

"NYTWA drivers call for one hour work stoppage @ JFK airport today 6 PM to 7 PM to protest #nobannowall," the New York Taxi workers union said on Twitter.

"We cannot be silent. We go to work to welcome people to a land that once welcomed us. We will not be divided," they said.

Comments

ali
 - 
Sunday, 29 Jan 2017

US VISA = INDIAN CURRENCY

If any idiots get elected then that country tastes poverty.

mohammad.n
 - 
Sunday, 29 Jan 2017

One modi in India..
One trump in US...

Creating chaos and disturbing common people.

I fear how many more such rulers to come!!

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News Network
June 2,2020

Jun 2: Pakistan's COVID-19 cases reached 76,398 on Tuesday after 3,938 new infections were reported across the country, while the death toll due to the coronavirus has gone up to 1,621, according to the health ministry.

The Ministry of National Health Services said that 78 COVID-19 deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of fatalities in Pakistan to 1,621.

A total of 27, 110 people have recovered, it said.

Sindh has 29,647 patients, Punjab 27,850, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 10,485, Balochistan 4,514, Islamabad 2,893, Gilgit-Baltistan 738 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 271, it added.

The authorities have conducted 577,974 tests, including 16,548 in the last 24 hours.

The jump in the number of cases comes a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan said that people should learn to live with COVID-19 until a vaccine is developed.

Khan addressed the media after chairing the meeting of National Coordination Committee, the highest body to tackle the pandemic.

"Coronavirus will not go away until the vaccine is discovered. We need to learn to live with it and we can live with it if we follow precautions," he said.

He said the one million volunteers of the government's coronavirus force will raise awareness of the need to follow guidelines.

The government also said that all sectors will be opened slowly after deciding the negative list of businesses which will not be allowed.

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Agencies
February 11,2020

The head of the World Health Organisation on Tuesday warned the novel coronavirus was a "very grave threat" for the world as he opened a conference to combat the epidemic.

"With 99% of cases in China, this remains very much an emergency for that country, but one that holds a very grave threat for the rest of the world," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in Geneva.

Some 400 scientists will review how the virus is transmitted and possible vaccines at the two-day forum.

"What matters most is stopping the outbreak and saving lives. With your support, that's what we can do together," Tedros said.

The virus, first identified in China on December 31, has killed more than 1,000 people, infected over 42,000 and reached some 25 countries.

Participants will also discuss the source of the virus, which is thought to have originated in bats and reached humans via another animal such as snakes or pangolins.

There is no specific treatment or vaccine against the virus, which can cause respiratory failure.

Tedros, who has repeatedly urged countries affected to share their data, called for global "solidarity".

"That is especially true in relation to the sharing of samples and sequences. To defeat this outbreak, we need open and equitable sharing, according to the principles of fairness and equity," he said.

"We hope that one of the outcomes of this meeting will be an agreed roadmap for research around which researchers and donors will align," Tedros said.

Several companies and institutes in Australia, China, France, Germany and the United States are racing to develop a vaccine -- a process that normally takes years.

Asked whether scientists from Taiwan would be allowed to take part in this week's Geneva conference, WHO officials said that they would do so but only online -- along with colleagues from other parts of China.

While the WHO does not deal with Taiwan directly and only recognises Beijing, Taiwan was often allowed to attend annual assemblies and sideline meetings as an observer.

But in recent years it has been frozen out as Beijing takes an increasingly combative stance towards democratic Taiwan, which it considers its own territory.

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Agencies
July 29,2020

If everything goes as Russia’s expectation, it will be world’s first country to approve a coronavirus vaccine for widespread in the second week of August despite safety and efficacy concerns, according to a report. The adenoviral vector-based vaccine developed by Russian military and government researchers is currently in phase 2 trials.

According to a report from CNN, Russian officials are hoping to get approval for the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute on Agust 10 or even before that. The officials told the outlet that the vaccine will be approved for public use with frontline healthcare workers receiving it first.

“It’s a Sputnik moment,” said Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, which is financing Russian vaccine research, referring to the successful 1957 launch of the world’s first satellite by the Soviet Union, according to CNN.

“Americans were surprised when they heard Sputnik’s beeping. It’s the same with this vaccine. Russia will have got there first,” he was quoted as saying.

However, Russia is yet to release the scientific data on its coronavirus vaccine trials, hence, questions remain about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine, said the report. The vaccine is in the second phase of testing with developers planning to launch the phase 3 trials sometime after August 3.

Earlier, Interfax reported, citing Health Minister Mikhail Murashko, that the vaccine will be widely used in parallel with phase 3 trials. He said the country plans to vaccinate medics who are at high-risk for COVID-19 next month before clinical trials are completed.

Murashko added that individuals at higher risk of getting infected with the coronavirus such as older people or those with health conditions will also be prioritised for the vaccine, although he did not estimate or reveal when that would happen. The minister added 800 people will be recruited for the phase 3 trials.

Meanwhile, health officials were more cautious considering the fact that human testing of the vaccine is incomplete, and the state registration is expected to begin after August 3, reported The Moscow Times.

On Monday, Moderna and Pfizer announced the commencement of the final phase 3 trials of their candidate vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which has so far claimed at least 654,477 lives and infected 16,514,500 people worldwide. 

Researchers will recruit up to 30,000 volunteers in separate trials both backed by the US government. India's first indigenous coronavirus vaccine, COVAXIN, is undergoing phase 1 human clinical trials across the country. More than 150 COVID-19 vaccines are being developed all over the world with at least six candidates already in late-stage clinical trials.

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