First Thing: US to limit refugee numbers to 7,500 with priority for white South Africans | US news
Good morning.
The Trump administration will limit the number of refugees it will accept into the United States next year to just 7,500, and those spots will be filled mostly by white South Africans.
The low figure represents a dramatic drop from the ceiling of 125,000 people fleeing war and persecution set last year under the Biden administration.
The announcement quickly drew criticism from a wide range of refugee organisations.
“Since its founding in 1980, the U.S. Refugee Program has accepted more than 2 million people fleeing ethnic cleansing and other horrors. It will now be used as a conduit for white immigration,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council.
California authorities investigating second shooting of ICE agents in a week
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents’ involvement in a shooting in Southern California on Thursday has sparked a federal investigation.
ICE officers stopped a vehicle in Ontario and were approached by another driver who was not the target, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. Police ordered the driver to leave the area, according to the statement.
“As the driver began to drive away, the car stopped and reversed directly into the officers without stopping, attempting to run them over,” Tricia McLaughlin, DHS deputy press secretary, said in a statement.
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What was the other recent attack by ICE agents in Los Angeles? Last week, federal agents shot a Los Angeles man who was livestreaming immigration enforcement operations on social media. Authorities said at the time that Carlitos Ricardo Parias, a TikTok creator with a large following, tried to ram federal agents’ vehicles after the agents surrounded him and pinned him against his car.
Hurricane Melissa death toll approaches 50 as relief efforts in Jamaica intensify and the storm heads north
The death toll from Hurricane Melissa reached 49 as the hurricane continued to ravage the Caribbean and passed Bermuda, and workers in Jamaica stepped up efforts to clear roads and reach people in isolated and cut-off areas.
Tropical storm conditions occurred in Bermuda late Thursday; The category 2 storm crossed the western side of the region, packing maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (155 km/h). The storm is moving north-east at 38 mph (61 km/h).
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What do we know about it? Number of deaths so far? The death toll in Haiti has risen to 30, with 20 people missing, the civil defense agency said on Thursday. “This is a sad moment for the country,” said Laurent Saint-Cyr, head of Haiti’s interim presidential council. Information Minister Dana Morris Dixon said that the death toll in Jamaica has risen to 19 and search and rescue efforts are continuing.
In other news…
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New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency to raise $65 million to help food pantries. Federal funding for the national food stamp program is scheduled to end Saturday due to the government shutdown.
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Buckingham Palace announced that Britain’s Prince Andrew will be stripped of his royal titles. Amid ongoing allegations about his friendship with child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
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Russian commanders are executing or deliberately sending to death soldiers who refuse to fight in Ukraine. According to a new study by independent publication Verstka.
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In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders’ far-right Freedom Party is almost certain to be excluded from the next Dutch government. After a general election in which support fell while liberal-progressives made gains.
Unionized Starbucks workers are voting to strike amid anger over pay and conditions and allegations that the company is violating labor laws. Figures show that the average annual salary for a Starbucks employee in 2024 is $14,674; this represents 0.015% of CEO Brian Niccol’s total compensation of $97.8 million last year.
Don’t miss this: The least scary movies ever – ranked!
Halloween season is full of scary movie lists. What about the least scary movies ever? Stuart Heritage lists the quiet and comforting, from My Dinner with Andre (1981) to Before Sunset (2004) to David Lynch’s The Straight Story (1999), in which an old man drives a lawnmower across Central America to visit his dying brother.
Climate control: former EPA chief calls for resistance to Trump attacks on climate action – ‘We will not compromise’
Former Environmental Protection Agency chief Gina McCarthy, who co-chairs America Is All In, which will send more than 100 subnational leaders to the UN climate summit in Brazil next month, told reporters yesterday that US cities and states “will not allow our country to be numbed or weakened by those who stand in the way of progress.”
Latest Thing: ‘I dressed up as a superhero for Halloween and then saved a man’s life’
On Halloween night in 2020, Christopher Lee Taylor dressed up as superhero Homelander with a stars and stripes cape. On his way to a house party, “I saw flames coming from another house,” he says. “The children were watching from the backseat. I said ‘Don’t worry’, ‘I’ll be right back’ and headed towards the burning house.”
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