refugee

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Tamil Tigers Confirm Death of Leader

(Newser) - The defeated Tamil Tigers have admitted that leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is dead, the BBC reports. The rebels declared a week of mourning after their “incomparable leader” was killed while "fighting the military oppression of the Sri Lankan government," a statement said. The Tigers have also renounced violence,...

Clinton Aims to Save Pakistan With Text Donations

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton is hoping text messages can save Pakistan’s Swat Valley. The Secretary of State is asking Americans to text “swat” to 20222 to make a $5 donation to help refugees from the fighting there, Foreign Policy reports. The money would go to a UN agency, which provides...

Thousands Flee Pakistan War Zone as Curfew Lifted

UN warns that refugee crisis could destabilize Pakistan

(Newser) - Pakistan has temporarily lifted a curfew on the war-torn Swat Valley to let civilians flee the fighting, the BBC reports. Some 150,000 people are believed to be trapped in the city of Mingora, where Taliban militants have dug trenches and mined roads. The Pakistan military has vowed to clear...

Ground Troops Reach Taliban HQ: Pakistan

Refugee crisis mounts as fighting ramps up

(Newser) - Pakistani soldiers descended on a Taliban stronghold in Swat Valley today to “search and destroy,” a military spokesman tells Reuters. Ground troops were also moving toward the remote northwest region as the military ramps up its offensive against insurgents there. Officials say 751 of the vastly outnumbered militants...

As Pakistan Shells Taliban, 500K Flee Swat

Military bombards densely populated areas; UN warns of crisis

(Newser) - Refugees continue to flee the Swat Valley in Pakistan, reports the Guardian, where government forces battling resurgent Taliban militants have been conducting airstrikes in heavily populated areas. The government is preparing for up to 500,000 refugees in what the UN warns is becoming a humanitarian crisis. The Washington Post...

Sri Lankan Refugees Describe Deadly Escape

10 of 21 make it to safety in India; refugees tell their story

(Newser) - As fighting raged between the Sri Lankan army and the rebel Tamil Tigers last month, 21 people managed to escape on a boat. But by the time they arrived in India, nine days later, only 10 remained. “One by one. Dead babies, children. No food. No drink,” one...

Fighting Erupts as Pakistan-Taliban Truce Folds

(Newser) - Pakistan's government abandoned its rapidly decaying truce with the Taliban today, al-Jazeera reports, with government forces openly battling militants in several parts of the Swat Valley following a Taliban attack on an army convoy yesterday. Tens of thousands of residents have already fled the area, and the government said it...

Up to 110K Civilians Flee Sri Lankan War Zone

(Newser) - Thousands more civilians flooded out of the final battlefield in Sri Lanka’s civil war today, bringing the total number of displaced to more than 80,000, Reuters reports. The UN said that number could be as high as 110,000, though only 7,500 had reached refugee camps clear...

N. Korean Refugees Dazed by Capitalist Life

(Newser) - They arrive undernourished and barely able to read. They marvel at credit cards, can’t stomach pizza, and when the lights dim in movie theaters, they panic, fearing kidnappers will strike. Welcome to the world of the North Korean defector in South Korea, where an ever-growing wave of refugees is...

Indonesia Rescues 200 Boat People Thais 'Left to Die'

Refugees say Thai military towed them to sea, set them adrift

(Newser) - The Indonesian navy has rescued 200 more Burmese refugees who say the Thai military abandoned them to die at sea three weeks ago, the Daily Telegraph reports. The refugees, from Burma's persecuted Muslim Rohingya minority, say their motorless wooden boat was part of a flotilla of nine, containing more than...

Groups Say Thailand Sends Refugees to Sea

Hundreds missing after being left with little food or water

(Newser) - Human rights groups say the Thai military is effectively sentencing refugees to death by herding them out to sea on boats with little food or water. Hundreds of Muslim refugees from Burma are missing, they say. Last month, 1,000 were detained on a remote island, then towed to sea...

For Refugees, New Year Means New Way of Life

(Newser) - It's no coincidence that 15% of recent Somali refugees to the US share a birthday today. Aid workers often assign Jan. 1 when a birth date is unavailable, as is often the case in war-ravaged and disaster-ridden countries or cultures that don't celebrate birthdays. American rituals seem especially peculiar to...

UK Deporting HIV Patients to 'Death Sentence'

Critics say British policy hypocritical

(Newser) - An African policy group is accusing the UK of deporting immigrants who were being treated for HIV to almost certain death in places where they will be unable to acquire drugs needed to survive. Advocates call the move hypocritical since Britain is a vocal backer of an international declaration calling...

Anarchy Rules Desperate Congo

In country's east, rebels and army abandon citizens

(Newser) - Bewildered residents in eastern Congo talk of the "front line" separating rebel territory from areas controlled by the army. But no such line exists—only a jumble of unstable, chaotic territories with no checkpoints or fortifications, reports the New York Times. While a ceasefire between the two sides seems...

Congo's Crisis at Breaking Point

EU, African Union scramble to broker peace deal as Nkunda attacks

(Newser) - European and African officials held crisis talks last night to avert a complete meltdown in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the civil war risks degenerating into genocide. The diplomatic push came as Laurent Nkunda, the Tutsi general, led 10,000 rebels into battle in a province bordering Rwanda, which...

US Appeals Ruling to Free Chinese From Gitmo

US appeal of ruling strands 17, held since 2001 without charge

(Newser) - 17 Chinese prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay will stay there indefinitely pending an appeal of a judge’s decision that they be released, the Guardian reports. “They were on freedom's doorstep," their frustrated lawyer said. “The plane was at Gitmo.” Refugee and religious organizations in the...

Jolie Returns, Moved, From Afghanistan Trip

Goodwill ambassador visited refugees, urges international aid

(Newser) - Angelina Jolie made a trip to Afghanistan last week in her role as goodwill ambassador for the United Nations, spending two days among the country's returning refugees. The actress visited sites where thousands of Afghans live in makeshift housing and struggle to find work, problems that typify the stress the...

Red Cross: Pakistan Now a War Zone

Tribal areas become war zone as government steps up assault on militants

(Newser) - Pakistan's escalating confrontation with the Taliban has plunged the country into full-scale war, the New York Times reports. A quarter of a million people have fled the fighting as the Pakistani army attacks the militants in tribal areas on at least three fronts, and 20,000 have flooded in desperation...

Galveston Resort Turns Into Storm Central

500 to 800 souls took refuge at a convention center in Galveston during Ike's assault

(Newser) - A motley crew rode out Hurricane Ike at Galveston’s San Luis Resort, Spa, & Conference Center, Joel Achenbach writes for the Washington Post. Up to 800 people were there, among them the mayor, cops and firefighters, along with storm chasers and drenched refugees holed up as the wind roared...

Hijacked Sudan Airliner on the Ground in Libya

Former Darfur rebels among 102 still aboard as talks continue

(Newser) - A Sudanese flight hijacked today after lifting off from a Darfur airport has landed in Libya, the AFP reports. Authorities are still negotiating with hijackers; three former members of a rebel group are said to be among 102 on board. Yesterday, the UN reported 33 dead after a clash between...

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