News in Brief
SAN FRANCISCO (Guardian) -- Silicon Valley technology corporations including Amazon, Palantir and Microsoft make millions from U.S. immigration enforcement, according to a new report.
They provide tools that aid surveillance, detention and deportation of individuals targeted by Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda, according to a paper published Tuesday by a coalition of immigrant rights groups. The report outlined ways Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) has expanded its reach, with infrastructure from tech companies that have faced growing internal and external pressure to cancel their contracts.
"During this time of continued escalated abuse by Ice and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), we’ve been frustrated, scared and shocked by the level of secrecy around how many of these tech contracts are procured,” said Jacinta Gonzalez, an organizer with Mijente, one of the not-for-profit groups behind the report. "These technologies are being used in real time, and so many companies are profiting.”
***
BEDFORD, N.Y. (Dispatches) -- The FBI and local police responded to an address near the home of George Soros after an object that appeared to be an explosive was found in a mailbox, according to authorities.
The Bedford Police Department said it responded to the address in the hamlet of Katonah at 3:45 p.m. Monday after an employee of the residence opened the package.
The person placed the package in a wooded area and called police, who alerted the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Explosives.
Beford police said the FBI's terrorism task force was investigating.
The FBI's New York field office said on Twitter that it was "conducting an investigation at and around a residence in Bedford, NY. There is no threat to public safety, and we have no further comment at this time."
Soros, a billionaire who made his fortune in hedge funds, has invested heavily in liberal campaigns, angering many countries.
Recently, critics have accused him of secretly financing a caravan of Central American migrants to make their way north toward Mexico and the U.S.
Others have accused him of being a Nazi collaborator during World War II, when he was a child in Hungary.
***
TAIPEI (Time) -- The U.S. Navy sailed two warships through the Taiwan Strait for the second time since July, a show of force that threatens to further exacerbate tensions with China.
Two U.S. vessels sailed through the Taiwan Strait from waters near Eluanbi, the southern tip of Taiwan island, toward the north, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said in a statement on its website.
U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesman Commander Nate Christensen said the guided-missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur and the guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam took part in the passage operation "in accordance with international law.”
The transit coincides with a period of rising tension between Taiwan and China, which considers the island one of its provinces. Since the election of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen from a pro-independence party in 2016, Beijing has cut off formal communication with Taipei and stepped up military exercises in the area.
***
MOSCOW (Dispatches) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree setting the stage for "special economic measures" in response to what the document calls Ukraine's "unfriendly actions" against Russian citizens and companies.
In the decree signed and posted on the Kremlin website, Putin instructs the government to draft a list of Ukrainian firms and individuals to be targeted for economic sanctions.
The decree also orders the government to outline the sanctions and says it can be cancelled if Ukraine lifts all restrictions it has imposed against Russian citizens and companies.
Like the United States and the European Union, Kyiv has imposed sanctions on Russian tycoons, companies, and other entities in response to Moscow's seizure of the Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and its support for armed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
In June, Putin signed a law on countermeasures against the United States and other countries that have sanctions against Russia.
***
PARIS (AP) -- French police have moved into a makeshift migrant camp outside the northern port city of Dunkirk to clear out an estimated 1,800 people seeking to cross the English Channel to Britain.
The local prefecture said on Tuesday that migrants will be sent to reception centers in northern France where authorities will check if they want to seek asylum.
The camp in Grande-Synthe is a way-station for migrants, most of them Iraqi Kurds, where human traffickers are known to operate.
It was the latest periodic clean-out of the camp. Last September and June, hundreds of migrants were evacuated from the camp and a local gymnasium.
France's new interior minister Christophe Castaner will visit Grande-Synthe later in the day to meet with police forces.
***
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -- Belgium’s energy production is plunging as its nuclear reactors are taken offline for repairs, with the power shortfall this winter seen as a test of the country’s ability to cope when the reactors are phased out from 2022.
Four nuclear reactors at Doel near Antwerp and three at Tihange in Liege, all operated by Electrabel, part of France’s Engie, produce about half of Belgium’s electricity when they are fully operational.
Six of the seven all built between 1975 and 1985 with an original lifespan of 40 years are currently closed for repairs and maintenance, reducing their combined 6 gigawatts capacity by nearly two-thirds. They are expected to come back online between late November and June.
Grid operator Elia has warned it may have to ration electricity during the high-demand winter months, while fears of a supply shortage that could see lights go out and trains stand still have pushed power prices to record highs.
They provide tools that aid surveillance, detention and deportation of individuals targeted by Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda, according to a paper published Tuesday by a coalition of immigrant rights groups. The report outlined ways Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) has expanded its reach, with infrastructure from tech companies that have faced growing internal and external pressure to cancel their contracts.
"During this time of continued escalated abuse by Ice and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), we’ve been frustrated, scared and shocked by the level of secrecy around how many of these tech contracts are procured,” said Jacinta Gonzalez, an organizer with Mijente, one of the not-for-profit groups behind the report. "These technologies are being used in real time, and so many companies are profiting.”
***
BEDFORD, N.Y. (Dispatches) -- The FBI and local police responded to an address near the home of George Soros after an object that appeared to be an explosive was found in a mailbox, according to authorities.
The Bedford Police Department said it responded to the address in the hamlet of Katonah at 3:45 p.m. Monday after an employee of the residence opened the package.
The person placed the package in a wooded area and called police, who alerted the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Explosives.
Beford police said the FBI's terrorism task force was investigating.
The FBI's New York field office said on Twitter that it was "conducting an investigation at and around a residence in Bedford, NY. There is no threat to public safety, and we have no further comment at this time."
Soros, a billionaire who made his fortune in hedge funds, has invested heavily in liberal campaigns, angering many countries.
Recently, critics have accused him of secretly financing a caravan of Central American migrants to make their way north toward Mexico and the U.S.
Others have accused him of being a Nazi collaborator during World War II, when he was a child in Hungary.
***
TAIPEI (Time) -- The U.S. Navy sailed two warships through the Taiwan Strait for the second time since July, a show of force that threatens to further exacerbate tensions with China.
Two U.S. vessels sailed through the Taiwan Strait from waters near Eluanbi, the southern tip of Taiwan island, toward the north, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said in a statement on its website.
U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesman Commander Nate Christensen said the guided-missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur and the guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam took part in the passage operation "in accordance with international law.”
The transit coincides with a period of rising tension between Taiwan and China, which considers the island one of its provinces. Since the election of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen from a pro-independence party in 2016, Beijing has cut off formal communication with Taipei and stepped up military exercises in the area.
***
MOSCOW (Dispatches) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree setting the stage for "special economic measures" in response to what the document calls Ukraine's "unfriendly actions" against Russian citizens and companies.
In the decree signed and posted on the Kremlin website, Putin instructs the government to draft a list of Ukrainian firms and individuals to be targeted for economic sanctions.
The decree also orders the government to outline the sanctions and says it can be cancelled if Ukraine lifts all restrictions it has imposed against Russian citizens and companies.
Like the United States and the European Union, Kyiv has imposed sanctions on Russian tycoons, companies, and other entities in response to Moscow's seizure of the Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and its support for armed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
In June, Putin signed a law on countermeasures against the United States and other countries that have sanctions against Russia.
***
PARIS (AP) -- French police have moved into a makeshift migrant camp outside the northern port city of Dunkirk to clear out an estimated 1,800 people seeking to cross the English Channel to Britain.
The local prefecture said on Tuesday that migrants will be sent to reception centers in northern France where authorities will check if they want to seek asylum.
The camp in Grande-Synthe is a way-station for migrants, most of them Iraqi Kurds, where human traffickers are known to operate.
It was the latest periodic clean-out of the camp. Last September and June, hundreds of migrants were evacuated from the camp and a local gymnasium.
France's new interior minister Christophe Castaner will visit Grande-Synthe later in the day to meet with police forces.
***
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -- Belgium’s energy production is plunging as its nuclear reactors are taken offline for repairs, with the power shortfall this winter seen as a test of the country’s ability to cope when the reactors are phased out from 2022.
Four nuclear reactors at Doel near Antwerp and three at Tihange in Liege, all operated by Electrabel, part of France’s Engie, produce about half of Belgium’s electricity when they are fully operational.
Six of the seven all built between 1975 and 1985 with an original lifespan of 40 years are currently closed for repairs and maintenance, reducing their combined 6 gigawatts capacity by nearly two-thirds. They are expected to come back online between late November and June.
Grid operator Elia has warned it may have to ration electricity during the high-demand winter months, while fears of a supply shortage that could see lights go out and trains stand still have pushed power prices to record highs.