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Drug cartels finding new smuggling routes while Border Patrol deals with migrants

us forces mexico border

U.S. beefs up border personnel ahead of the arrival of the migrant caravan
Officials said Tuesday's court ruling against Trump's asylum executive order is making things much more difficult for law enforcement. Former acting ICE director Tom Homan said his agency is completely overwhelmed and needs the military's help.

Border Patrol agents and other law enforcement officials fear the growing number of migrants amassing along the United States border in Tijuana, Mexico will try to rush the U.S. port of entry as the situation has been exacerbated in recent days by the increased conflict between the migrants and locals, former and current U.S. law enforcement officials said.

Passport

Asylum-seeking migrants must 'wait in Mexico' for hearing - WaPo

migrants california border
© Guillermo Arias/Agence France-Presse/Getty
The White House will reduce the catch-and-release of economic migrants by returning them to Mexico until their asylum pleas are decided by U.S. judges, says an article in the Washington Post.

The asylum reform is sketched in the article which says:
Central Americans who arrive at U.S. border crossings seeking asylum in the United States will have to wait in Mexico while their claims are processed under sweeping new measures the Trump administration is preparing to implement, according to internal planning documents and three Department of Homeland Security officials familiar with the initiative.

According to DHS memos obtained by The Washington Post on Wednesday, Central American asylum seekers who cannot establish a "reasonable fear" of persecution in Mexico will not be allowed to enter the United States and would be turned around at the border.

The plan, called "Remain in Mexico," amounts to a major break with current screening procedures, which generally allow those who establish a fear of return to their home countries to avoid immediate deportation and remain in the United States until they can get a hearing with an immigration judge. Trump despises this system, which he calls "catch and release," and has vowed to end it.

Comment: The Daily Caller reports intentions of some migrants to storm the border:
An aid group sympathetic to the migrant caravan currently parked in Tijuana says some members of the group are planning to scramble across the U.S. border en masse.

According to Fox News, Angels without Borders founder Sergio Tamai talked to San Diego's Spanish-language media Telemundo 20 and said, "They have that intention. I believe that thousands could make that jump."

There are about 3,000 migrants camping out in Tijuana with many more on the way. The locals have not exactly been welcoming, with the mayor and an angry mob calling the would-be Central American refugees "an invasion" and calling them "criminals" and "freeloaders."

The Department Of Homeland Security is warning Americans that the migrants are not an innocuous collection of women and children.

It is uncertain what happens next. A federal judge nixed President Donald Trump's plans to order a temporary halt to illegal immigrants obtaining refugee status. If the migrants are allowed to apply for asylum, it could take six months to assess their claims.

But many of the migrants aren't prepared to wait for due process and tell Telemundo that they are prepared to break-in to the United States.

"Most of us, yes - we want to be on the other side," said Jorge Molina, from Honduras. "Some want to jump over the wall, others to go another way, and others want to wait and see what kind of response they get."

The migrant caravan has attracted controversy and notoriety from the beginning of its trek from Honduras. There have been numerous clashes with Mexican authorities.

A Reuters report detailed how some of the migrants are armed with guns and Molotov cocktails that could be still be used in any border confrontation. One migrant offhandedly told a reporter about his conviction for attempted murder, but said he was sure a pardon awaited him in the United States.



TV

Snowflakes in China? Dolce & Gabbana face backlash over 'racist' advertisement

D&G ad

This is racist?
The Chinese uproar over Dolce & Gabbana's controversial ad campaign raged on as thousands of products from the Italian luxury fashion house were removed from China's biggest shopping websites and calls to boycott the brand gained traction.

The high-fashion brand faces a growing storm in China after a video campaign it made was criticized as racist and insensitive, and incendiary messages from co-founder Stefano Gabbana's Instagram account went viral.

Cross-border e-commerce site Yangmatou said late Wednesday night that it had taken 58,000 D&G products off its site, saying that "the motherland is more important than anything else." On Internet giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s Tmall shopping portal, a search for D&G in both English and Chinese returned no results. Searches on popular shopping sites JD.com and NetEase's Kaola also returned no results for D&G items.

Alibaba, JD.com Inc. and NetEase Inc. did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Dolce & Gabbana didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the pulled items.

Comment: Hold on to your pearls. Here's the full ad with RT commentary:




Attention

'We're afraid': Palestinian villagers speak to RT as Israel prepares to bulldoze their homes

Children
© Reuters / Mohamad Torokman
Children are pictured in the village of Khan al-Ahmar in the occupied West Bank.
Residents of a Palestinian village are dealing with constant uncertainty, terrified of the moment when Israeli bulldozers come in to destroy their homes. Villagers spoke to RT about being scared for the fate of their families.

Khan al-Ahmar in the occupied West Bank is facing demolition by Israel, which says the residents haven't obtained building permits. Some of the villagers spoke about the psychological and emotional toll that the situation is having on them.

People 2

Hearing this one thing was a light bulb moment in terms of my opinion on feminism

men women 50/50
Last weekend, my boyfriend and I took a road trip to Mayo. From Cork, it's quite the spin so we had plenty of time to chat.

The conversation somehow landed on feminism and we spoke about everything from abortion legislation to Ariana Grande's new song, Thank u, next and what kind of message it conveys.

Comment: See also:


Bullseye

Right-wing Hindu nationalists attack Catholic priest in India

Father Vineet Vincent Pereira
© Father Pereira
Father Vineet Vincent Pereira.
A Catholic priest was attacked by a Hindu mob in northern India, and then arrested by police after Hindus accused him of causing the disturbance.

Father Vineet Vincent Pereira was conducting a prayer service in Ghohana town in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh when right-wing Hindus attacked him on Nov. 14.

"Two local men barged into Ashwar Dham with the intention of causing tension, they were joined by two more people, and these four began beating up one of our inmates. I went to his rescue, and they hit me on the head, pulled my hair and hit me on my arm, making conversion allegations. Soon the number of attackers swelled. The entire incident lasted around ten minutes," the priest told Crux.

Ishwar Dham is a four-room house rented by Pereira, where he lives with a few lay brothers and five additional residents who are ill. He holds prayer services every day, which are open to people of all faiths.

Right-wing Hindu groups have accused the priest of trying to convert the local Hindu population.

Info

Founder of Proud Boys quits after FBI labels the group 'extremist'

Gavin McInnes
Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes has quit the group one day after it was revealed the FBI considers the neo-fascist gang to be an "extremist" group.

McInnes, who co-founded Vice before leaving the media company in 2008, made the announcement in a 36-minute video posted Wednesday on YouTube.

"As of today, Nov. 21, 2018, I am officially disassociating myself from the Proud Boys, in all capacities, forever. I quit," he said.

McInnes said his reasons for leaving the group are connected with an incident that took place last month after he spoke at the Metropolitan Republican Club in Manhattan.

Proud Boys members violently assaulted leftist protesters in Manhattan's Upper East Side after the protest, and at least nine were arrested days later.

"I'm told by my legal team and law enforcement that this gesture could help alleviate their sentencing," McInnes said. "Fine. At the very least, this will show jurors they are not dealing with a gang and there's no head of operations."

Comment: See also:


Fire

'I held on like a football': Texas man catches baby dropped from burning building

Fire
© Pexels
Thanksgiving might be dominated by football, but the catch of the week was made by a Dallas man who caught a one-year-old baby after the mother dropped it out of a burning building in order to save it.

As fire engulfed the apartment building in northeast Dallas on Wednesday, not everyone thought they would make it out alive. One mother and father punched out their third-floor window to escape the blaze, but couldn't risk jumping with their one-year-old infant.

"It was terrifying," mother Shuntara Thomas told WFAA-TV. "I didn't know if I was going to come down with her or if that would be the last time that I was holding my child."

Oil Well

Gazprom stops natural gas auction as it's 'sold out' for 2018

Gazprom sign
Gazprom Export, the export arm of Russian gas giant Gazprom, has stopped the natural gas auctions on its electronic sales platform because all natural gas available until the end of 2018 has already been sold, a source close to the issue told S&P Global Platts on Wednesday.

Gazprom Export launched on August 17 its Electronic Sales Platform (ESP) for physical natural gas sales to European consumers, in addition to supplies under existing contracts. The Russian firm expects the platform "to become an additional mean to optimize supplies of gas," Elena Burmistrova, Director General of Gazprom Export, said.

Sales via the ESP began on September 20, and according to Gazprom Export data, no auctions have been held since last Friday, November 16.

"There are no auctions as all of the gas available in balance has been sold till the end of the year," the source close to the process told Platts.

Attention

Scottish hospital on lockdown after nurse gets knifed by attacker

Ailsa Hospital
© Google Street View
Ailsa Hospital in Ayr has been placed on lockdown following a stabbing in its grounds.
A hospital in North Ayrshire is on lockdown after a nurse was stabbed in its grounds.

Police Scotland said it was searching for an attacker who knifed the woman outside Ailsa hospital, on the outskirts of Ayr, at about 10.05am on Thursday.

The victim is being treated in hospital but her condition is not yet known.

NHS Ayrshire and Arran said the building was "on full lockdown" as a police helicopter and officers search the area.

The health board said "no members of staff, patients or visitors will be able to leave the site until advised".