WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Trump administration has instituted a rule change that could fast-track the deportation of hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers. Under the new rule some asylum applications will be referred directly to Justice Department immigration judges without a prior interview by an asylum officer with US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Trump campaigned for the White House on a promise to expel millions of migrants and has taken a number of actions since returning to the White House aimed at speeding up deportations.

 

*** 

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese and Russian naval warships have completed a joint patrol lasting more than two weeks and arrived in Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East on Wednesday, China’s state news ‌agency Xinhua reported. The patrol was part of the annual military cooperation plan between China and Russia and was “not related to the current international and regional situation”, Xinhua said. The task force departed Qingdao in eastern China on July 13 and sailed through key Northeast Asia waterways of Miyako Strait, Vries Strait and La Perouse Strait, conducting patrols in the western Pacific, Sea of Okhotsk and Sea of Japan, Xinhua said.

 

*** 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Wednesday it had charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov with facilitating terrorist activity, alleging that his hugely popular messaging app was being used by ‌Ukrainian spies to organize attacks inside Russia. In response, Telegram’s official account on X posted an image of the Russian-born billionaire making an obscene gesture with his middle finger. The charges, announced by the Federal Security Service (FSB), marked the culmination of a long investigation against Dubai-based Durov and Telegram.

 

*** 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council will hold an initial round of ‌informal closed-door “straw poll” ballots on Thursday to assess support for the seven candidates currently vying to become the next head of the United Nations. The candidates, from Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guyana, Senegal and Uganda, are seeking to replace Antonio Guterres of Portugal when he steps down at the end of this year after two five-year terms. Guterres’ successor faces the task of revitalizing an organization in crisis and declining stature that is under increasing pressure to reform a bloated, costly bureaucracy and cut duplication across its many agencies. Straw polls are informal, non-binding votes conducted among the Security Council’s 15 members. They are asked whether they “encourage,” “discourage” or have “no opinion” on each candidate. The ballots are secret and only Council members are present during the exercise.

 

*** 

TOKYO (AP) - Japan’s south-western Kyushu region has had more than 100 aftershocks since it was struck on Tuesday by a powerful earthquake which left at least 13 people dead. Many others were said to be in cardiac arrest - a term often used in preliminary reports in Japan before a death is officially confirmed. In searing heat, rescue crews are digging through the rubble at a paper factory and a shopping mall in Kumamoto prefecture, looking for trapped survivors. The mall suffered an explosion in the hour after the quake struck.