Donald Trump has promised sweeping action in a second administration. The former president and now president-elect often skipped over details but through more than a year of policy pronouncements and written statements outlined a wide-ranging agenda that blends traditional conservative approaches to taxes, regulation and cultural issues with a more populist bent on trade and a shift in America’s international role. Trump’s agenda also would scale back federal government efforts on civil rights and expand presidential powers. A look at what Trump has proposed: Immigration “Build the wall!” from his 2016 campaign has become creating “the largest mass deportation program in history.” Trump has called for using the National Guard and empowering domestic police forces in the effort. Still, Trump has been scant on details of what the program would look like and how he would ensure that it targeted only people in the U.S. illegally. He’s pitched “ideological screening” for would-be entrants, ending birth-right citizenship (which almost certainly would require a constitutional change), and said he’d reinstitute first-term policies such as “Remain in Mexico,” limiting migrants on public health grounds and severely limiting or banning entrants from certain majority-Muslim nations. Altogether, the approach would not just crack down on illegal migration, but curtail immigration overall. Abortion Trump played down abortion as a second-term priority, even as he took credit for the Supreme Court ending a woman’s federal right to terminate a pregnancy and returning abortion regulation to state governments. At Trump’s insistence, the GOP platform, for the first time in decades, did not call for a national ban on abortion. Trump maintains that overturning Roe v. Wade is enough on the federal level. Trump said last month on his social media platform Truth Social that he would veto a federal abortion ban if legislation reached his desk — a statement he made only after avoiding a firm position in his September debate against Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. But it’s unclear if his administration would aggressively defend against legal challenges seeking to restrict access to abortion pills, including mifepristone, as the Biden administration has. Anti-abortion advocates continue to wage legal battles over the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug as well as the agency’s relaxed prescribing restrictions. Trump is also unlikely to enforce Biden’s guidance that hospitals must provide abortions for women who are in medical emergencies, even in states with bans. TaxesTrump’s tax policies broadly tilt toward corporations and wealthier Americans. That’s mostly due to his promise to extend his 2017 tax overhaul, with a few notable changes that include lowering the corporate income tax rate to 15% from the current 21%. That also involves rolling back Democratic President Joe Biden’s income tax hikes on the wealthiest Americans and scrapping Inflation Reduction Act levies that finance energy measures intended to combat climate change. Those policies notwithstanding, Trump has put more emphasis on new proposals aimed at working- and middle class Americans: exempting earned tips, Social Security wages and overtime wages from income taxes. It’s noteworthy, however, that his proposal on tips, depending on how Congress might write it, could give a back-door tax break to top wage earners by allowing them to reclassify some of their pay as tip income — a prospect that at its most extreme could see hedge-fund managers or top-flight attorneys taking advantage of a policy that Trump frames as being designed for restaurant servers, bartenders and other service workers. Tariffs and tradeTrump’s posture on international trade is to distrust world markets as harmful to American interests. He proposes tariffs of 10% to 20% on foreign goods — and in some speeches has mentioned even higher percentages. He promises to reinstitute an August 2020 executive order requiring that the federal government buy “essential” medications only from U.S. companies. He pledges to block purchases of “any vital infrastructure” in the U.S. by Chinese buyers. DEI, LGBTQ and civil rightsTrump has called for rolling back societal emphasis on diversity and for legal protections for LGBTQ citizens. Trump has called for ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs in government institutions, using federal funding as leverage. On transgender rights, Trump promises generally to end “boys in girls’ sports,” a practice he insists, without evidence, is widespread. But his policies go well beyond standard applause lines from his rally speeches. Among other ideas, Trump would roll back the Biden administration’s policy of extending Title IX civil rights protections to transgender students, and he would ask Congress to require that only two genders can be recognized at birth. Regulation, federal bureaucracy and presidential powerThe president-elect seeks to reduce the role of federal bureaucrats and regulations across economic sectors. Trump frames all regulatory cuts as an economic magic wand. He pledges precipitous drops in U.S. households’ utility bills by removing obstacles to fossil fuel production, including opening all federal lands for exploration — even though U.S. energy production is already at record highs. Trump promises to unleash housing construction by cutting regulations — though most construction rules come from state and local government. He also says he would end “frivolous litigation from the environmental extremists.” The approach would in many ways strengthen executive branch influence. That power would come more directly from the White House. He would make it easier to fire federal workers by classifying thousands of them as being outside civil service protections. That could weaken the government’s power to enforce statutes and rules by reducing the number of employees engaging in the work and, potentially, impose a chilling effect on those who remain. Trump also claims that presidents have exclusive power to control federal spending even after Congress has appropriated money. Trump argues that lawmakers’ budget actions “set a ceiling” on spending but not a floor — meaning the president’s constitutional duty to “faithfully execute the laws” includes discretion on whether to spend the money. This interpretation could set up a court battle with Congress. As a candidate, he also suggested that the Federal Reserve, an independent entity that sets interest rates, should be subject to more presidential power. Though he has not offered details, any such move would represent a momentous change to how the U.S. economic and monetary systems work. Read: Tarique Rahman Congratulates Donald Trump EducationThe federal Department of Education would be targeted for elimination in a second Trump administration. That does not mean that Trump wants Washington out of classrooms. He still proposes, among other maneuvers, using federal funding as leverage to pressure K-12 school systems to abolish tenure and adopt merit pay for teachers and to scrap diversity programs at all levels of education. He calls for pulling federal funding “for any school or program pushing Critical Race Theory, gender ideology, or other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children.” In higher education, Trump proposes taking over accreditation processes for colleges, a move he describes as his “secret weapon” against the “Marxist Maniacs and lunatics” he says control higher education. Trump takes aim at higher education endowments, saying he will collect “billions and billions of dollars” from schools via “taxing, fining and suing excessively large private university endowments” at schools that do not comply with his edicts. That almost certainly would end up in protracted legal fights. As in other policy areas, Trump isn’t actually proposing limiting federal power in higher education but strengthening it. He calls for redirecting the confiscated endowment money into an online “American Academy” offering college credentials to all Americans without a tuition charges. “It will be strictly non-political, and there will be no wokeness or jihadism allowed—none of that’s going to be allowed,” Trump said on Nov. 1, 2023. Social Security, Medicare and MedicaidTrump insists he would protect Social Security and Medicare, popular programs geared toward older Americans and among the biggest pieces of the federal spending pie each year. There are questions about how his proposal not to tax tip and overtime wages might affect Social Security and Medicare. If such plans eventually involved only income taxes, the entitlement programs would not be affected. But exempting those wages from payroll taxes would reduce the funding stream for Social Security and Medicare outlays. Trump has talked little about Medicaid during this campaign, but his first administration reshaped the program by allowing states to introduce work requirements for recipients. Affordable Care Act and Health CareAs he has since 2015, Trump calls for repealing the Affordable Care Act and its subsidized health insurance marketplaces. But he still has not proposed a replacement: In a September debate, he insisted he had the “concepts of a plan.” In the latter stages of the campaign, Trump played up his alliance with former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime critic of vaccines and of pesticides used in U.S. agriculture. Trump repeatedly told rally crowds that he would put Kennedy in charge of “making America healthy again.” Climate and energyTrump, who claims falsely that climate change is a “hoax,” blasts Biden-era spending on cleaner energy designed to reduce U.S. reliance on fossil fuels. He proposes an energy policy – and transportation infrastructure spending – anchored to fossil fuels: roads, bridges and combustion-engine vehicles. “Drill, baby, drill!” was a regular chant at Trump rallies. Trump says he does not oppose electric vehicles but promises to end all Biden incentives to encourage EV market development. Trump also pledges to roll back Biden-era fuel efficiency standards. Workers’ rightsTrump and Vice President-elect JD Vance framed their ticket as favoring America’s workers. But Trump could make it harder for workers to unionize. In discussing auto workers, Trump focused almost exclusively on Biden’s push toward electric vehicles. When he mentioned unions, it was often to lump “the union bosses and CEOs” together as complicit in “this disastrous electric car scheme.” In an Oct. 23, 2023, statement, Trump said of United Auto Workers, “I’m telling you, you shouldn’t pay those dues.” Read more: Right on cue, Hasina greets Trump on his ‘resounding victory’ National defense and America’s role in the world Trump’s rhetoric and policy approach in world affairs is more isolationist diplomatically, non-interventionist militarily and protectionist economically than the U.S. has been since World War II. But the details are more complicated. He pledges expansion of the military, promises to protect Pentagon spending from austerity efforts and proposes a new missile defense shield — an old idea from the Reagan era during the Cold War. Trump insists he can end Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war, without explaining how. Trump summarizes his approach through another Reagan phrase: “peace through strength.” But he remains critical of NATO and top U.S. military brass. “I don’t consider them leaders,” Trump said of Pentagon officials that Americans “see on television.” He repeatedly praised authoritarians like Hungary’s Viktor Orban and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Britain’s Labour party has been forced to issue a clarification on comments made by its leader Keir Starmer regarding the removal of Bangladeshi migrants from the UK, as reports emerged of outrage among members of the British-Bangladeshi community ahead of next week’s general election.  At a town hall with readers of The Sun, a rightwing tabloid, earlier this week, Starmer said: "At the moment people coming from countries like Bangladesh are not being removed because they’re not being processed." He was being asked about Labour's rejection of the Conservative government policy of deporting migrants who arrive in the UK illegally in small boats to Rwanda. Starmer was trying to explain his policy would be to send illegal migrants back to their countries of origin.  "The number of people being returned to where they came from has dropped off by 44 percent under this government. So on the first few days of government, I’ll tell you what I do, I’ll put the staff back in the returns unit, I’ll make sure I’ve got planes going off, not to Rwanda because that’s an expensive gimmick," the Labour leader said. Asked where the migrants would go, Starmer, who is being described as a ‘prime minister in waiting’, replied: "They will go back to the countries where people come from. That’s what used to happen." He then made the reference to Bangladeshi migrants. Fourth UK Conservative Party official reportedly investigated in widening election betting scandal A clip of the interaction described by news website PoliticsHome, that has reportedly been distributed on WhatsApp groups, shows Starmer talking of "people coming from countries like Bangladesh" but does not explicitly specify that he is referring to people without permission to settle in the UK. At the end of the video, a message reads: "Don't vote for Labour on 4 July. Vote for Independent candidates." Pro-Palestinian independent candidates are standing against Labour in a number of seats across England in the UK’s election, and regard voters disillusioned with Labour as their most likely supporters.  The Labour party in a statement said: "Keir has proudly supported the Bangladeshi community across the UK, who make an enormous contribution to our country. This clip has been edited to make it look as though Keir Starmer is suggesting repatriation of British Bangladeshis. It is misinformation. "In fact, Keir is referring to Labour's long established policy of returning those who don't have the legal right to be in the UK to safe countries. Bangladesh was only used as an example, as there is already a bilateral agreement between the two countries." The reference is to a new agreement signed between the two governments in May "to speed up the removal of migrants with no right to be in the country" by removing a mandatory interview in cases "where there is good supporting evidence for removal". The UK and Bangladesh held their first ever Joint Working Group meeting on Home Affairs at the British Home Office in London and signed the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) on Returns, UNB reported at the time. Nevertheless, the traditional support for Labour within the Bangladeshi community in the UK was set to be tested, as another candidate for the party in next week’s elections, Jon Ashworth, a member of Starmer’s shadow cabinet in the last parliament, also told the BBC this week that a Labour government would send migrants “from countries like Bangladesh or wherever” back to their countries of origin. What happened this week in the UK election campaign, from a betting controversy to Farage's ambition The reaction within Starmer’s own party has been stark. Labour has seven candidates of Bangladeshi origin standing in the election on July 4. Four of them were incumbent MPs till parliament was dissolved ahead of the election. Rushanara Ali - the first British-Bangladeshi MP in the House of Commons and Shadow Minister - said in a message circulated online: "There has been considerable concern and upset following the release of a clip of the Labour Party leader. I have been in close contact with his team to relay the concerns in our community". Apsana Begum, the Labour candidate standing for re-election in Poplar and Limehouse, tweeted a video of herself – in English and in Sylheti – criticising politicians using "dog-whistle racism against Bangladeshis". Stepney Green Councillor Sabina Akhtar, deputy leader of Labour’s Tower Hamlets unit, handed in her resignation. "I was a proud Labour party member, but I find I cannot be proud of this party anymore when the leader singles out my community and insults my Bangladeshi identity," she said in a statement. Paula Barker, who is re-standing to be the Labour MP for Liverpool Wavertree, tweeted: "Bangladeshis do not come here illegally. Their contribution to our national life and our community here in Liverpool is immeasurable. I will always stand with them now and always". Starmer and Ashworth’s comments have been described as racist dog whistles that have left members of the British-Bangladeshi community “seething with anger”.  In the 2021 census, there were a total of 652,535 Bangladeshis in the United Kingdom, around 1% of the total population. Nearly half of the population live in London, and the community is regarded as the driving force behind Britain’s $5 billion curry industry. Immigration is a hot-button issue in this year’s election in the UK, with the status of asylum seekers a particular concern for some voters. British government statistics show that the top countries of origin of people seeking asylum in the UK are Afghanistan, Iran and India, with Bangladesh ranking seventh. Labour currently enjoys a big lead in the polls, and is expected to win the election ending 14 years of Conservative rule. But both parties are trying to avoid leaking votes to the newly-formed Reform party, that has set out its stall almost entirely around a pledge to drastically reduce net migration into the UK.  

Singapore’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers have held a man “identified as Bangladeshi”, over suspected immigration violations, after he was seen walking along the train tracks on the Causeway. The country’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority posted a photo of the man in a Facebook post on Tuesday (March 14, 2023). “On 9 Mar, a Bangladeshi male was spotted walking along the train tracks on the Causeway towards Singapore. The man was promptly intercepted by ICA officers from Woodlands Checkpoint, before he could pose a safety hazard to on-going train operations,” reads the post cited by a report published by The Straits Times. Also Read: Obaidul Quader off to Singapore for routine checkup The authorities said the man had no original identity documents or travel documents in his possession. “ICA takes a serious view on attempts to enter or depart Singapore illegally. Under the Immigration Act 1959, the penalties for illegal entry are fine of up to $1,000, or a jail term of up to six months, or both,” added the post. In 2022, 414 immigration offenders were arrested in Singapore, up from 355 in 2021, The Straits Times report said. Also Read: Govt to import 100,000 MT of rice from India and Singapore

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Shipping Ministry recommended the government to reopen the immigration services at Sonamasjid land port in Chapainawabganj, which has remained suspended for nearly three years. The parliamentary watchdog made the recommendation at its 51st meeting held at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban with its chairman Maj. (Retd.) Rafiqul Islam, Bir Uttam in the chair, said a press release. Read more: Parliament reconstitutes six standing committees The people of the country’s northwestern region are facing problems in travelling to India through Sonamasjid-Mehandipur route as the immigration services in Sonamasjid land port was shut on March 15, 2020 amid the global outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, but hasn’t opened yet. Now the travellers need to cross a long way to enter India through the Benapole immigration check post, which cost them extra money and time. Besides, the committee suggested the ministry to connect the Payra port with Dhaka and other river ports for conducting commercial activities, and collect the necessary number of dredgers to protect the navigability of the river channels to this end. The parliamentary body put emphasis on saving energy and use of solar systems in the land ports. It also recommended resolving the border related problems through discussions with the Foreign Affairs Ministry. Read more: Parliamentary committee gets 2 more months to review media employees bill Committee members Mazaharul Hoque Prodhan (Panchagarh-1), Ranajit Kumar Roy (Jashore-4), Mahfuzur Rahaman (Chattogram-3), Dr. Shamil Uddin Ahmed Shimul (Chapainawabganj-1) and SM Shahjada (Patuakhali-3) attended the meeting.  

A sprawling, privately run detention center in the wind-swept California desert town of Adelanto could house nearly 2,000 migrants facing the prospect of deportation. These days, though, it’s nearly empty. The Adelanto facility is an extreme example of how the U.S. government’s use of guaranteed minimum payments in contracts with private companies to house immigrant detainees might have a potential financial downside. In these contracts, the government commits to pay for a certain number of beds, whether they’re used or not. The government pays for at least 1,455 beds a day at Adelanto, but so far this fiscal year reports an average daily population of 49 detainees. Immigrant advocates say the number of detainees at Adelanto is currently closer to two dozen because authorities can’t bring in more migrants under a federal judge’s 2020 pandemic-related ruling. The U.S. government pays to guarantee 30,000 immigration detention beds are available in four dozen facilities across the country, but so far this fiscal year about half, on average, have been occupied, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement data. Over the past two years, immigration detention facilities across the United States have been underutilized as authorities were forced to space out detainees — in some cases, such as at Adelanto, by court order — to limit the spread of COVID-19. “The government is still paying them to keep the facility open,” said Lizbeth Abeln, deportation defense director at the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice in Southern California. “It’s really concerning they’re still getting paid for all the beds every single day. It’s empty.” At a facility in Tacoma, Washington, the guaranteed minimum is 1,181 beds and the average daily population so far this fiscal year is 369, according to official data. A detention center in Jena, Louisiana, has a minimum of 1,170 beds, with an average daily population of 452. Read: 6 dead, 30 hurt in shooting at Chicago-area July 4 parade ICE currently reports 23,390 detainees in custody, official data shows. The agency has long spent money on unused detention space by including guaranteed minimum payments in its contracts, according to a Government Accountability Office report focused on the years before the pandemic. The minimum number of beds the government paid to guarantee rose 45% from the 2017 fiscal year to May 2020, the report said. Officials at ICE’s headquarters were asked to comment and initially did not. On Monday, an agency spokesperson said in an email that ICE doesn’t comment on pending litigation and is complying with the court’s order regarding Adelanto. In annual budget documents, officials said the agency aims to use 85% to 90% of detention space generally, and pays to have guaranteed minimum beds ready to go in case they’re needed. Officials wrote that they need flexibility to deal with emergencies or sudden big increases in border crossings. They said safety and security are the top priority at the detention centers, while acknowledging the pandemic “greatly decreased bed utilization.” The average cost of a detention bed was $144 each day during the last fiscal year, the documents show. Immigrant advocates say the pandemic is proof that the U.S. doesn’t need to detain immigrants as much as authorities have claimed. Deportation agents have ramped up use of a monitoring app to keep tabs on immigrants heading for deportation hearings instead of locking people up, they said. As of June, the agency was tracking more than 200,000 people using the SmartLink app, the government’s data shows. “The federal government, probably like all of us, didn’t think COVID would go on this long,” said Michael Kaufman, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, which sued for the release of detainees in Adelanto. “This has been an accidental test case that shows they don’t need a detention capacity anywhere near what they’re saying.” The Adelanto facility — which is run by Boca Raton, Florida-based The Geo Group — is one of the biggest in the country and often houses immigrants arrested in the greater Los Angeles area. It has long been subject to complaints by detainees of shoddy medical care, and on a 2018 visit to the facility inspectors also found nooses in detainees cells and overly restrictive segregation. In August 2019, more than 1,600 detainees were held at the facility 60 miles (100 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles, according to a state report. Read: Gunman fatally shoots 2, wounds 3 Texas cops, takes own life Soon after COVID-19 hit, immigrant advocates sued over safety concerns. U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter barred ICE from bringing in new detainees and capped the number of detainees to 475. He ordered detainees be spaced out and have room to stretch, walk and use the restroom and shower, and noted an unknown number of staff and detainees didn’t wear masks. “This case involves human lives whose reasonable safety is entitled to be enforced and protected by the Court pursuant to the United States Constitution,” Hatter wrote in 2021. Since then, immigration authorities have been bringing new detainees to a 750-bed annex in Adelanto that was previously a state prison. But immigrant advocates said the annex is also running well below occupancy. Geo, which also runs the annex, declined to comment and referred all questions to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Thomas P. Giles, ICE’s field office director for enforcement and removal operations in greater Los Angeles, said limited bed space locally means some immigrants detained in Southern California could be transferred elsewhere. “Here in Los Angeles, we have only a limited amount of bed space so some of the people that we arrest, if we don’t have bed space, we’re going to fly them to Phoenix or Atlanta or another part of the country for bed space,” Giles said during a recent interview. “That doesn’t necessarily affect our operations, but it puts more logistics into it.” In Adelanto, the Department of Justice runs immigration courts where detainees have their deportation cases heard. Currently, judges in these courtrooms are hearing the cases of immigrants elsewhere in the country using video due to dwindling numbers at the desert facility, said Immigration Judge Mimi Tsankov, president of the National Association of Immigration Judges. Over time, hundreds of detainees have been released on bond or due to health concerns or deported, and some wings of the facility have been closed down, said Eva Bitran, an ACLU staff attorney. “It’s a tremendous waste of resources,” she said.

State Minister for Civil Aviation M Mahbub Ali on Monday asked the officials concerned at immigration to not to interrogate each passenger during immigration at Dhaka Airport. “We have talked to the immigration authorities and asked them not to interrogate every passenger to avoid harassment. They can interrogate the person who is suspicious to them and they will be under interrogation in separate, if needed. Besides, it is difficult to interrogate all in one day,” he said while talking to reporters after observing the overall situation of the airport on Monday. We came here to monitor the airport management and check the performance of the airport authorities, he said. Also read: Nominees of pilgrims unable to attend hajj 2022 can withdraw deposited money The ministry has formed a team to monitor the airport management and they visited the airport area three days in a week, he added. Referring to the hajj management, the minister said all preparation has been taken to start hajj flights from May 31. “We have taken preparation to conduct the hajj flights with our own flight Biman Bangladesh Airlines,” There are four aircrafts of Boeing-777 out of 21 aircrafts of Biman and in 2019, hajj flight was conducted with the four flights and it will be the same in this year too, said Mahbub. “We are working to maintain hajj flights without any disruption and the authorities concerned are monitoring the hajj flight activities regularly,” he said. Noting that there is a trolley crisis at the airports, Mahbub said a number of close circuit cameras were installed to check harassment of passengers, if any. Also read: Hajj registration to start from May 16 He also urged the officials concerned at ground handling of the airport, to join their work thirty minutes before their scheduled time and exit their workplace half hours after their working time to ensure smooth service of the passengers. This year, a total of 57,856 pilgrims will be able to perform Hajj from Bangladesh and of them 53,585 will travel under private management. The minimum cost under government management has been fixed at Tk 4,62, 150 this year which is over Tk 1 lakh more than 2020. Flights carrying Bangladeshi pilgrims to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj will begin on May 31, said the Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry on April 27.

Australia will provide lethal military equipment to Ukraine to help the Ukrainians resist the Russian invasion. The Australian government's announcement Monday gave no details on what material it may be sending. The move follows an offer on Friday of non-lethal military equipment, medical supplies and a $3 million contribution to a NATO trust fund for support of the besieged country. Australia has imposed sanctions on more than 350 Russian individuals, including Russian President Vladimir Putin since Thursday. Australia has also targeted with sanctions 13 individuals and entities in Belarus, including that country's defense minister, Viktor Khrenin. Belarus is supporting Russia in its war with Ukraine. ___ TORONTO — The two largest media companies in Canada are dropping Russian state TV channel RT from their cable offerings. Rogers spokesman Andrew Garas says Russia Today will no longer be available on its channel lineup as of Monday. The Bell media company also is removing RT. Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez is commending the action, saying Russia has been conducting warfare in Ukraine since 2014 and information warfare across the world. He says RT is the propaganda arm of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime that spreads disinformation. Read:Putin puts nuclear forces on high alert, escalating tensions ___ FRANKFURT, Germany — An Austria-based subsidiary of Russia’s state-owned Sberbank has been ruled likely to fail after depositors fled due to the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The European Central Bank said early Monday that the bank had 13.6 billion euros in assets at the end of last year, but has experienced “significant deposit outflows” due to “geopolitical tensions.” The ECB says Vienna-headquartered Sberbank Europe AG “is likely to be unable to pay its debts or other liabilities as they fall due.” The bank is a fully owned subsidiary of Russia’s Sberbank, whose majority shareholder is the Russian government. Europe’s bank resolution board separately says it has imposed a payments ban on money owed by the bank and a limit on how much depositors can withdraw. The board will decide on further steps, which could include restructuring, selling or liquidating the bank. Sberbank Europe operates 185 branches and has more than 3,933 employees. ___ KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s Interior Ministry says 352 Ukrainian civilians have been killed during Russia’s invasion, including 14 children. It says an additional 1,684 people, including 116 children, have been wounded. he ministry’s statement Sunday does not give any information on casualties among Ukraine’s armed forces. Russia has claimed that its troops are targeting only Ukrainian military facilities and says that Ukraine’s civilian population is not in danger. Russia has not released any information on casualties among its troops. The Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged on Sunday only that Russian soldiers have been killed and wounded, without giving any numbers. ___ RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro says his government will remain neutral regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Bolsonaro said he had a two-hour long conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday to talk about the war and assured Russia’s leader that Brazil will keep a neutral position. However, Brazil's foreign ministry later said Bolsonaro did not speak to Putin on Sunday, but rather was referring to his two-hour meeting with the Russian during a visit to Moscow earlier this month. Brazil’s ultra conservative president said Sunday that he does not want to “bring the consequences of the conflict” to Brazil. Bolsonaro says that Russia has no intention of carrying out any massacres and that in some regions of Ukraine “90% of the people want to get closer to Russia.” The Brazilian president also criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying people “entrusted the fate of the nation to a comedian.” ___ WASHINGTON — The U.S. for the first time has approved the direct delivery of Stinger missiles to Ukraine as part of a package approved by the White House on Friday. The exact timing of delivery is not known, but officials say the U.S. is currently working on the logistics of the shipment. The officials agreed to discuss the development only if not quoted by name. The decision comes on the heels of Germany’s announcement that it will send 500 Stinger missiles and other weapons and supplies to Ukraine. The high-speed Stingers are very accurate and are used to shoot down helicopters and other aircraft. Ukrainian officials have been asking for more of the powerful weapons. The Baltic states have also been providing Ukraine with Stingers since January, and in order to do that had to get U.S. permission. ___ TORONTO — Canada will send an additional $25 million worth of defensive military equipment to Ukraine in an effort to help the country defend against Russia’s invasion. Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says the equipment includes helmets, body armor, gas masks and night-vision gear. She says it will be routed through Poland to get there as quickly as possible. Anand says Canada will offer up cybersecurity experts who can help Ukraine “defend its networks against cyber attacks that are increasingly forming part of modern-day warfare.” ___ UNITED NATIONS -- The U.N. Security Council has voted for the 193-member General Assembly to hold an emergency session on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Monday. The vote on Sunday to authorize an emergency meeting was 11 in favor, Russia opposed, and China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstaining. That was the exact same vote on a resolution Friday demanding that Moscow immediately stop its attack on Ukraine and withdraw all troops. But in that case, Russia used its veto and the resolution was defeated. Ukrainian U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya asked for the General Assembly meeting to be held under the so-called “Uniting for Peace” resolution, initiated by the United States and adopted in November 1950 to circumvent vetoes by the Soviet Union during the Korean War. That resolution gives the General Assembly the power to call emergency meetings when the Security Council is unable to act because of the lack of unanimity among its five veto-wielding permanent members -- the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France. —— MOSCOW — The U.S. Embassy in Moscow urged American citizens in Russia to think about leaving the country immediately on Sunday, as some airlines halt flights there and some countries close their skies to Russian aircraft. “U.S. citizens should consider departing Russia immediately via commercial options still available,” the Embassy said in a statement on its website. U.S. officials in recent weeks have urged Americans not to travel to Russia, and warned that the U.S. government could not help in any evacuation of Americans from there. An earlier alert recommended Americans develop contingency plans about how to leave the country if necessary. The European Union was among those announcing Sunday they were closing their airspace to Russian flights —- NEW YORK CITY — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order on Sunday forbidding her state from doing business with Russia. The order includes canceling its investments in Russia. During a press conference in Albany, the governor said her state would also welcome refugees from the besieged country. Hochul said New York is home to the largest Ukrainian population in the United States. “If you need a place to stay, you want to come over here, we will help you become integrated into our community,” she said. The economic sanctions follow those issued by President Joe Biden to help siphon resources from the Russian government, which launched its long-expected invasion of Ukraine last Thursday. It remains to be seen how Hochul’s move will aid the effort to severely squeeze the Russian economy in the global effort to get Russian President Vladimir Putin to retreat. ___ KYIV, Ukraine — As Russian troops draw closer to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv’s mayor is both filled with pride over his citizens’ spirit and anxious about how long they can hold out. In an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday, after a grueling night of Russian attacks on the outskirts of the city, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said there were no plans to evacuate civilians if Russian troops managed to take Kyiv. “We can’t do that, because all ways are blocked,” he said. “Right now we are encircled.” When Russian troops invaded Ukraine on Thursday, the city of 2.8 million people initially reacted with concern but also a measure of self-possession. However, nerves started fraying when grocery stores began closing and the city’s famously deep subway system turned its stations into bomb shelters. The mayor confirmed to the AP that nine civilians in Kyiv had been killed so far, including one child. ___ NEW YORK — Some early signs are emerging of significant economic consequences to Russia following its invasion of Ukraine three days ago. While official quotes for the Russian ruble were unchanged at roughly 84 rubles to the dollar, one online Russian bank, Tinkoff, was giving an unofficial exchange rate of 152 rubles over the weekend. Videos from Russia showed long lines of Russians trying to withdraw cash from ATMs, while the Russian Central Bank issued a statement calling for calm, in an effort to avoid bank runs. Reports also showed that Visa and Mastercard were no longer being accepted for those with international bank accounts. “Banks and credit card companies dealing with Russia are going into lock down mode given the fast pace and increasing bite of the sanctions,” said Amanda DeBusk, a partner with Dechert LLP. Russia may have to temporarily close bank branches or declare a national bank holiday to protect its financial system, analysts said. “If there’s a full-scale banking panic, that’s a driver of crisis in its own right,” said Adam Tooze, a professor of history at Columbia University and Director of the European Institute. “A rush into dollars by the Russian general population moves things into an entirely new domain of financial warfare.” ___ MOSCOW — The Russian military said Sunday that some of its troops were killed and some were wounded in Ukraine -- admitting for the first time that it had suffered casualties since the Russian invasion. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Sunday “there are dead and wounded among our comrades,” without offering any numbers, but adding that Russia’s losses were “many times” fewer than those of Ukraine’s forces. It was the first time Russian military officials mentioned casualties on their side. Ukraine has claimed that its forces killed 3,500 Russian troops. Konashenkov also said that since the start of the attack Thursday, the Russian military have hit 1,067 Ukrainian military facilities, including 27 command posts and communication centers, 38 air defense missile system and 56 radar stations. Konashenkov’s claims and Ukraine’s allegations that its forces killed thousands of Russian troops can’t be independently verified. ___ KYIV, Ukraine — Hundreds of people protested Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in Belarus on Sunday. The protests came despite the fact that the authoritarian Belarusian government has sided with Moscow. The anti-war rallies spanned at least 12 Belarusian cities, and human rights advocates reported that more than 170 people have been arrested. In the capital of Minsk, demonstrators marched in different parts of the city carrying Ukrainian flags. A large pile of flowers kept growing at the building of Ukraine’s Embassy. ___ JERUSALEM — Around 2,500 Ukrainian Jews have asked to immigrate to Israel and take citizenship since the onset of Russia’s invasion, a quasi-governmental organization says. The Jewish Agency for Israel, which handles immigration matters, said that it has received over 5,000 inquiries about immigration to Israel. Around half have requested to immigrate immediately, the agency said. Ukraine is home to a Jewish community of around 43,000. But approximately 200,000 Ukrainians are eligible for immigration under Israel’s Law of Return, which extends the right to citizenship to anyone with one Jewish grandparent. ___ TORONTO — Canada is joining many European countries in closing its airspace to all Russian aircraft as the West ramps up pressure on Russia for invading Ukraine. Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said Sunday that Canada will hold Russia accountable for its unprovoked attacks. Most European countries have either announced they are closing their airspace or said they intend to do so. So far Spain, Greece, Serbia and Turkey are among the few left that haven't joined in the move against Russia. ___ BRUSSELS — The European Union’s top migration official says more than 300,000 Ukrainians fleeing war have entered the 27-nation bloc in recent days and is warning that Europe must be ready for millions to arrive. EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson is urging the bloc’s interior ministers meeting on Sunday to trigger a special protection mechanism set up 20 years ago to help deal with influxes of refugees. “We have to prepare for even bigger numbers, and we have to prepare for the support that we need to give to the Ukrainians fleeing,” she told reporters at the EU meeting in Brussels. The protection system was set up in the wake of the wars in former Yugoslavia and Kosovo, when thousands of people were forced to flee their homes. It has never been used. It provides residence permits for a fixed time, the possibility of jobs, accommodation, social welfare, medical treatment and education for children. ___ ATHENS — Authorities say Greece is sending ammunition, assault rifles and missile launchers to Ukraine in response to a request by Ukraine's government. The military aid was decided at a meeting Sunday morning between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and senior defense officials. A C-130 plane with the equipment has arrived in Poland, and a second one will arrive later, a Defense Ministry official said. Two more planes carrying humanitarian aid such as blankets and food have also left Athens International Airport for Poland, the spokesman said. ___ GENEVA — The World Health Organization is warning that oxygen supplies – important for the fight against COVID-19 and other illnesses – are reaching a “very dangerous point” in Ukraine due to transportation difficulties in the wake of Russia’s military invasion, jeopardizing thousands of lives. “The majority of hospitals could exhaust their oxygen reserves within the next 24 hours. Some have already run out. This puts thousands of lives at risk,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and WHO Europe regional director Dr. Hans Kluge in a joint statement Sunday afternoon in Europe. They said electricity and power shortages, and the danger of ambulances getting caught in the crossfire, were increasing the risks to patients. Read:Ukraine, Russia diplomats to meet on Belarus border ___ TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says Japan has decided to join the United States and European nations in cutting key Russian banks from the SWIFT international financial messaging system to step up sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. Japan will also freeze assets of Russian President Vladimir Putin and other top Russian officials, while sending $100 million in emergency humanitarian aid to Ukraine, Kishida told reporters. “The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a unilateral attempt to change the status quo and the act shakes the foundation of the international order. It’s an outright violation to international law and we strongly denounce the act,” Kishida said. In a statement welcoming new sanctions from Japan, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the US and its allies “will continue working closely together to impose further severe costs and make Putin’s war of choice a strategic failure.” ___ MOSCOW — From Moscow to Siberia, Russians have taken to the streets again on Sunday to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Demonstrators marched in city centers, chanting “No to war." Protests against the invasion started on Thursday and have continued for four days in a row, despite police swiftly moving to detain hundreds of people each day. In St. Petersburg, where dozens gathered in the city center, police in riot gear grabbed protesters and dragged some to police vans, even though the demonstration was peaceful. According to the OVD-Info rights group that tracks political arrests, by Sunday afternoon police detained at least 356 Russians in 32 cities over anti-war demonstrations. ___ KYIV, UKRAINE — The office of Ukraine’s president has confirmed that a delegation will meet with Russian officials as Moscow’s troops draw closer to Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy office said Sunday on the Telegram messaging app that the two sides would meet at an unspecified location on the Belarusian border and did not give a precise time for the meeting. The meeting news came shortly after President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian nuclear forces put on high alert in response to what he called “aggressive statements” by leading NATO powers. ___ BERLIN — Approximately 100,000 people have turned out in Berlin to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and show solidarity with the Ukrainian people. Police said large crowds have filled the area originally planned for the demonstration, around the Brandenburg Gate in central Berlin, and that they were allocating additional space to accommodate the protesters. Sunday's protest was peaceful, including many families with children. People waved yellow and blue Ukrainian flags to show their support. Some carried placards with slogans such as “Hands off Ukraine" and “Putin, go to therapy and leave Ukraine and the world in peace.” ___ MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian nuclear deterrent forces put on high alert amid tensions with the West over his invasion of Ukraine. Putin asserted at a meeting with his top officials on Sunday that leading NATO powers had made “aggressive statements” along with the West imposing hard-hitting financial sanctions against Russia, including the president himself. The alert means Putin has ordered Russia’s nuclear weapons prepared for increased readiness to launch. He told the Russian defense minister and the chief of the military’s General Staff to put the nuclear deterrent forces in a “special regime of combat duty.” ___ WARSAW, Poland -- While countries like Poland and Hungary have welcomed fleeing Ukrainians, some foreign citizens seeking to leave Ukraine have reported difficulties at the Polish border. An Indian volunteer in Poland said Sunday some Indian citizens seeking to flee Ukraine into Poland are stuck at the border leading into Medyka, Poland, and unable to cross. The Indian Embassy in Kyiv said Sunday that Indian citizens are being evacuated from Ukraine to Romania and Hungary. But some have arrived at the border with Poland apparently unaware of this and are stuck. Ruchir Kataria, the volunteer, told The Associated Press that the Indians seeking to cross at Medyka were told in broken English: “Go to Romania.” But they had already made long journeys on foot to the border, and have no way to reach the border with Romania hundreds of kilometers away. ____ BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says Germany is committing 100 billion euros ($112.7 billion) to a special fund for its armed forces, raising its defense spending above 2% of its GDP. Scholz told a special session of the Bundestag in Berlin on Sunday that it was clear “we need to invest significantly more in the security of our country, in order to protect our freedom and our democracy.” Germany had come under criticism for not investing adequately in its defense budget and not doing enough to respond to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. On Saturday evening, the German government announced it would be sending weapons and other supplies directly to Ukraine to help troops against invading Russia forces. ___ BUDAPEST, Hungary — Russia's President Vladimir Putin has temporarily lost his most senior official position in world sports. The International Judo Federation on Sunday cited “the ongoing war conflict in Ukraine” for suspending Putin’s honorary president status. The Russian president is a keen judoka and attended the sport at the 2012 London Olympics. The judo federation is rare among Olympic sports bodies for using the word “war” to describe Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ordered by Putin since Thursday. Others have used phrases such as “escalation of conflict.” A Kremlin-supporting oligarch and longtime friend of Putin, Arkady Rotenberg, remains on the IJF executive committee as development manager. ___ TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel’s prime minister says the country is sending 100 tons of humanitarian aid to assist civilians caught up in the fighting in Ukraine. Naftali Bennett told a meeting of his Cabinet Sunday that the aid includes medical equipment and medicine, tents, sleeping bags and blankets. Bennett did not comment on a report by Israeli public broadcaster Kan which said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked the Israeli leader to mediate talks on ending the crisis with Russia. Bennett’s office confirmed there had been a call but declined to comment on the report. The Ukrainian embassy could not immediately be reached for comment. Bennett has treaded carefully in his public comments on Russia’s invasion. He has voiced support for Ukrainian civilians but has stopped short of condemning Russia. Israeli relies on Russia for security coordination in Syria, where Russia has a military presence and where Israel frequently strikes hostile targets. ___ KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s president says his country is ready for peace talks with Russia but not in Belarus, which was a staging ground for Moscow’s 3-day-old invasion. Speaking in a video message Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy named Warsaw, Bratislava, Istanbul, Budapest or Baku as alternative venues. He said other locations are also possible but made clear that Ukraine doesn’t accept Russia’s selection of Belarus. The Kremlin said Sunday that a Russian delegation had arrived in the Belarusian city of Homel for talks with Ukrainian officials. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the delegation includes military officials and diplomats. “The Russian delegation is ready for talks, and we are now waiting for the Ukrainians,” Peskov said. ___ MOSCOW — The Kremlin says a Russian delegation has arrived in the Belarusian city of Homel for talks with Ukrainian officials. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the delegation includes military officials and diplomats. “The Russian delegation is ready for talks, and we are now waiting for the Ukrainians,” Peskov said. There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials, who previously expressed their own readiness for peace talks with Russia but haven’t mentioned any specific details on their location and timing. Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday, and its troops are closing in on the capital, Kyiv, and making significant gains along the country’s coast. ___ KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian authorities say Russian troops have entered Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv and fighting is underway in the streets. Oleh Sinehubov, the head of the Kharkiv regional administration, said Sunday that Ukrainian forces were fighting Russian troops in the city and asked civilians not to leave their homes. Russian troops approached Kharkiv, which is located about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) south of the border with Russia, shortly after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine on Thursday. But until Sunday, they remained on its outskirts without trying to enter the city while other forces rolled past, pressing their offensive deeper into Ukraine. Videos on Ukrainian media and social networks showed Russian vehicles moving across Kharkiv and a light vehicle burning on the street. ___ KYIV, Ukraine — The Ukrainian president’s office said Russian forces blew up a gas pipeline in Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city. The State Service of Special Communication and Information Protection warned that the explosion, which it said looked like a mushroom cloud, could cause an “environmental catastrophe” and advised residents to cover their windows with damp cloth or gauze and to drink plenty of fluids. Ukraine’s top prosecutor, Iryna Venediktova, said the Russian forces have been unable to take Kharkiv, where a fierce battle is underway. The city of 1.5 million is located 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Russian border. ___ GENEVA — The United Nations says it has confirmed at least 240 civilian casualties, including at least 64 people killed, in the fighting in Ukraine that erupted since Russia’s invasion on Thursday — though it believed the “real figures are considerably higher” because many reports of casualties remain to be confirmed. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs relayed the count late Saturday from the U.N. human rights office, which has strict methodologies and verification procedures about the toll from conflict.

A century-old building originally used as a laundry by Chinese workers at Yosemite’s iconic Wawona Hotel has been restored and turned into a visitor’s attraction, recognizing Chinese Americans’ contributions to the early history of the national park. Officials unveiled a new sign Friday marking the Chinese Laundry Building in Yosemite Valley, the Fresno Bee reports. New exhibits inside tell the story of Chinese workers who helped build Tioga Road and Wawona Road, critical infrastructure that made tourism to the park possible. Read: China's Xi leads Martyr's Day ceremony amid patriotism drive The building — later used as a storage facility — is part of a cluster of structures that will make up the new Yosemite History Center, which will tell the histories of immigrants who made the park what it is today, said Park Ranger Adam Ramsey. “Chinese people have been a big part of communities throughout the Sierra Nevada for a really long time, and it’s about time that we started sharing that history here in Yosemite,” Ramsey said. According to research conducted by Park Ranger Yenyen Chan, in 1883 Chinese workers helped build the 56-mile (90-kilometer) Tioga Road in just 130 days. The stunning route across the Sierra Nevada reaches 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) in elevation and serves as one of the park’s main roads. Chinese workers were also employed in Yosemite as cooks, laundry workers and gardeners. Many first came to California during the Gold Rush, bringing with them skills learned in China about construction, engineering, agriculture, medicine and textiles that made a significant impact in America’s early success, Chan said. Read: China declares all cryptocurrency transactions illegal She said Yosemite’s Chinese history and their contributions were erased from memory because of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act passed by Congress to prevent any more Chinese from entering this country in search of work. The law blocked Chinese immigration for 60 years in this country. Members of the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California, who supported the building’s renovation, said they were gratified to see Yosemite include the Chinese in the park’s origin story. “Something like this really resonates with a lot of people in my generation,” said Eugene Moy, a past president of the society. “We’ve been here since the 1870s, so to be able to see this has deep meaning, because a lot of us, oftentimes, are relegated to the margins. We aren’t always perceived as being full-fledged Americans when the reality is that people have been here for three, four, five generations, for 150 years.”

Fatima Alzahra Shon thinks neighbors attacked her and her son in their Istanbul apartment building because she is Syrian. The 32-year-old refugee from Aleppo was confronted on Sept. 1 by a Turkish woman who asked her what she was doing in “our” country. Shon replied, “Who are you to say that to me?” The situation quickly escalated. A man came out of the Turkish woman’s apartment half-dressed, threatening to cut Shon and her family “into pieces,” she recalled. Another neighbor, a woman, joined in, shouting and hitting Shon. The group then pushed her down a flight of stairs. Shon said that when her 10-year-old son, Amr, tried to intervene, he was beaten as well. Shon said she has no doubt about the motivation for the aggression: “Racism.” Refugees fleeing the long conflict in Syria once were welcomed in neighboring Turkey with open arms, sympathy and compassion for fellow Muslims. But attitudes gradually hardened as the number of newcomers swelled over the past decade. Anti-immigrant sentiment is now nearing a boiling point, fueled by Turkey’s economic woes. With unemployment high and the prices of food and housing skyrocketing, many Turks have turned their frustration toward the country’s roughly 5 million foreign residents, particularly the 3.7 million who fled the civil war in Syria. In August, violence erupted in Ankara, the Turkish capital, as an angry mob vandalized Syrian businesses and homes in response to a the deadly stabbing of a Turkish teenager. Turkey hosts the world’s largest refugee population, and many experts say that has come at a cost. Selim Sazak, a visiting international security researcher at Bilkent University in Ankara and an advisor to officials from the opposition IYI Party, compared the arrival of so many refugees to absorbing “a foreign state that’s ethnically, culturally, linguistically dissimilar.” Read: Trump aides aim to build GOP opposition to Afghan refugees “Everyone thought that it would be temporary,” Sazak said. “I think it’s only recently that the Turkish population understood that these people are not going back. They are only recently understanding that they have to become neighbors, economic competitors, colleagues with this foreign population.” On a recent visit to Turkey, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi acknowledged that the high number of refugees had created social tensions, especially in the country’s big cities. He urged “donor countries and international organizations to do more to help Turkey.” The prospect of a new influx of refugees following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has reinforced the unreceptive public mood. Videos purporting to show young Afghan men being smuggled into Turkey from Iran caused public outrage and led to calls for the government to safeguard the country’s borders. The government says there are about 300,000 Afghans in Turkey, some of whom hope to continue their journeys to reach Europe. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who long defended an open-door policy toward refugees, recently recognized the public’s “unease” and vowed not to allow the country to become a “warehouse” for refugees. Erdogan’s government sent soldiers to Turkey’s eastern frontier with Iran to stem the expected flow of Afghans and is speeding up the construction of a border wall. Read: California governor seeks $16.7M in aid for Afghan refugees Immigration is expected to become a top campaign topic even though Turkey’s next general election is two years away. Both Turkey’s main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, and the nationalist IYI Party have promised to work on creating conditions that would allow the Syrian refugees’ return. Following the anti-Syrian violence in the Altindag district of Ankara last month, Umit Ozdag, a right-wing politician who recently formed his own anti-immigrant party, visited the area wheeling an empty suitcase and saying the time has come for the refugees to “start packing.” The riots broke out on Aug. 11, a day after a Turkish teenager was stabbed to death in a fight with a group of young Syrians. Hundreds of people chanting anti-immigrant slogans took to the streets, vandalized Syrian-run shops and hurled rocks at refugees’ homes. A 30-year-old Syrian woman with four children who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals said her family locked themselves in their bathroom as an attacker climbed onto their balcony and tried to force the door open. The woman said the episode traumatized her 5-year-old daughter and the girl has trouble sleeping at night. Some shops in the area remain closed, with traces of the disturbance still visible on their dented, metal shutters. Police have deployed multiple vehicles and a water cannon on the streets to prevent a repeat of the turmoil. Syrians are often accused of failing to assimilate in Turkey, a country that has a complex relationship with the Arab world dating back to the Ottoman Empire. While majority Muslim like neighboring Arab countries, Turks trace their origins to nomadic warriors from central Asia and Turkish belongs to a different language group than Arabic. Kerem Pasaoglu, a pastry shop owner in Istanbul, said he wants Syrians to go back to their country and is bothered that some shops a street over have signs written in Arabic instead of Turkish. Read: EU ministers meet to discuss Afghanistan, refugees “Just when we said we are getting used to Syrians or they will leave, now the Afghans coming is unfortunately very difficult for us,” he said. Turkey’s foreign minister this month said Turkey is working with the United Nations’ refugee agency to safely return Syrians to their home country. While the security situation has stabilized in many parts of Syria after a decade of war, forced conscription, indiscriminate detentions and forced disappearances continue to be reported. Earlier this month, Amnesty International said some Syrian refugees who returned home were subjected to detention, disappearance and torture at the hands of Syrian security forces, proving that going back to any part of the country is unsafe. Shon said police in Istanbul showed little sympathy when she reported the attack by her neighbors. She said officers kept her at the station for hours, while the male neighbor who threatened and beat her was able to leave after giving a brief statement. Shon fled Aleppo in 2012, when the city became a battleground between Syrian government forces and rebel fighters. She said the father of her children drowned while trying to make it to Europe. Now, she wonders whether Turkey is the right place for her and her children. “I think of my children’s future. I try to support them in any way I can, but they have a lot of psychological issues now and I don’t know how to help them overcome it,” she said. “I don’t have the power anymore. I’m very tired.

Army combat veteran Spencer Sullivan has never felt more victorious. Sullivan spent years fighting to get his Afghan translator asylum after his former platoon’s other interpreter was denied a U.S. visa before being killed by the Taliban in 2017. On Wednesday, Abdulhaq Sodais was finally granted asylum by a court in Germany, where he was forced to flee after being denied a U.S. visa repeatedly despite facing death threats for aiding U.S. troops during its 20-year war in Afghanistan. Read: US soldier loses 1 Afghan translator; fights to save another Sullivan, who now lives in Virginia, said he dropped his phone when he saw the text message from Sodais. “I just started crying,” Sullivan said. The decision marked the end of an eight-year journey between the two men who risked their lives together trying to eliminate the Taliban, bonding in a way that can only be forged in war. Sullivan dedicated himself to helping Sodais after losing another translator, Sayed Masoud, who was killed by the Taliban in 2017 while waiting for a U.S. visa. The former soldier is among scores of U.S. combat veterans who have been working on their own to rescue the Afghans who served alongside them. Read:Afghanistan girls soccer team given asylum in Portugal “It’s ultimately just cathartic relief,” said Sullivan, adding that he was overwhelmed with emotion Wednesday in part because it also opened the war wound that he couldn’t help Masoud. “This long journey is over but Sayed didn’t make it.” Thousands of Afghans who aided U.S. troops have spent years stuck in a backlogged and beleaguered U.S. Special Immigrant Visa program, and countless others were denied because of minor inconsistencies in their work records, such as showing up late to their jobs, according to veterans who worked with them. Sodais first applied for a U.S. visa in 2013 but was denied. He appealed four times before ultimately fleeing to Germany after his uncle was beheaded and his neighbor who worked for the U.S. military was gunned down by the Taliban. Sodais traveled for seven months going through nearly a half dozen countries. He was beaten and abandoned by smugglers and jailed and beaten by police before reaching Germany, where his first asylum request was denied. Sullivan wrote letters of recommendation, provided photos of his time with his platoon and obtained records from the U.S. government that showed his denial was based on a vague review by a civilian contractor who Sodais said falsely accused him of checking social media on the job. Read:Afghanistan’s Taliban want to address General Assembly: UN On Aug. 11, Germany temporarily halted the deportation of all Afghans due to the upheaval but did not specify how long the order would last. Sodais said he believes Sullivan’s letters of recommendation made the difference in finally being granted asylum. His case will be reviewed in three years when he can then apply to become a German citizen. Sodais said he looks forward to getting his German passport so he can someday visit Sullivan and they can travel together so Sodais can finally see the United States. “I’m feeling right now that I will have an amazing future,” he said.