WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 240 pro-migrant organizations urged President Joe Biden on Friday to terminate two border policies that block or reduce access to asylum in the United States, saying the policies violate U.S. law and international treaty obligations. Biden came into office in January promising to roll back the hardline immigration legacy of his Republican predecessor former president Donald Trump, but advocates - many who supported his candidacy - have grown frustrated with the slow pace of reform. In a letter addressed to Biden and other top officials, the groups called the policies “illegal.”

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PARIS (Dispatches) - Two French nationals have been sentenced to 10 and 20 years in prison for planning a coup against Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina. Paul Rafanoharana and Philippe François were prosecuted for endangering state security, criminal association and conspiracy to assassinate the president. Twenty other co-accused were also given prison terms. The French citizens’ lawyer plans to appeal against the sentence.

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PARIS (AFP) -The French government has said it will call on the EU to open legal proceedings against the UK over London’s alleged withholding of fishing licenses. Paris says 73 licenses are now outstanding. Speaking on Friday, Minister for European Affairs Clement Beaune told reporters that France had obtained 93% of the post-Brexit fishing licenses it claims the UK should have granted to its trawlers. According to Maritime Minister Annick Girardin, who spoke alongside Beaune, France was still pushing for a further 73 licenses to fish in British waters. Paris says it will not drop its protests until all of the outstanding licenses are granted.

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UBLIN/MADRID (Reuters) - European countries prepared to impose further restrictions on travel and more on Friday in an effort to stem surging cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 that are threatening to stall a global economic recovery. Germany, Ireland and Denmark were all considering further restrictions in the days before Christmas festivities kick off in earnest, following the footsteps of France, which closed its borders this week to most non-resident Britons. Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said that in the face of a “cruel virus,” the government had no choice but to consider unpopular measures including early closing times for bars and restaurants.

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NEW YORK (Al- Jazeera) -The United Nations’ Human Rights Council is due to consider a draft resolution that, if adopted, will set up an international commission of rights experts investigate abuses in war-hit Ethiopia.
Speaking at the largely virtual one-day session on Friday, Nada al-Nashif, the deputy rights chief, said the UN is continuing to receive “credible reports” that all sides in the brutal 13-month conflict have been committing severe human rights violations amid a deepening humanitarian crisis. The European Union, which requested the session, is pushing alongside other members to launch the international probe into abuses committed by all warring sides since fighting between federal government forces and fighters from the northern region of Tigray erupted in November 2020.