Suriname's parliament elects the country's first female president amid economic turmoil
The South American country's National Assembly chooses the president by a two-thirds vote. Geerlings-Simons, a congresswoman, ran unopposed after her party formed a coalition aimed at ousting the country's current leader following a May election with no clear winner.
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Winnipeg Free Press
15 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
South Korea sends 6 rescued North Koreans back across sea border
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea sent six North Koreans back across the rivals' sea border on Wednesday morning, months after they drifted south in wooden boats in March and May. It came after months of failed efforts to contact North Korea to coordinate the repatriation of the six individuals, who officials say consistently expressed a desire to go back. Despite the lack of communication, a North Korean patrol boat appeared at the handover point as the six individuals headed back aboard a repaired wooden boat, according to South Korea's Unification Ministry. What would have been a routine event in years past was complicated by the North's decision to cut off communications with the South in recent years. North Koreans have occasionally drifted south in wooden boats before, sometimes accidentally and sometimes with the intention of defecting. In most previous cases, the two Koreas coordinated to send those who wished to turn back across the land border. South Korea twice informed the North of its intention to repatriate the North Koreans on Wednesday through the U.S.-led United Nations Command, but received no response, the ministry said. South Korean authorities are also investigating a North Korean man who crossed the heavily fortified land border between the Koreas on Friday and was taken into custody by South Korean troops. South Korean officials have not disclosed whether the man expressed a desire to settle in the South. North Korea has effectively suspended almost all diplomacy and direct communication with South Korea following the collapse of its nuclear negotiations with Washington in 2019. Relations between the Koreas have worsened since 2022 as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un used Russia's invasion of Ukraine as a distraction to accelerate his nuclear weapons and missile programs, while also sending troops and military equipment to support Russia's war effort. South Korea's previous conservative government responded to the growing North Korean threat by expanding combined military exercises with the United States and Japan, which the North condemned as invasion rehearsals. Border tensions have flared in recent months as the two Koreas traded Cold War-style psychological warfare, with North Korea sending thousands of trash-filled balloons toward the South and South Korea blasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda through loudspeakers. Since taking office last month, South Korea's new liberal President Lee Jae Myung has made efforts to rebuild trust with North Korea, halting the frontline loudspeaker broadcasts and moving to ban activists from flying balloons carrying propaganda leaflets across the border.
Toronto Star
an hour ago
- Toronto Star
Iranian mother released from ICE detention after Republican House Majority Leader intervenes
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — An Iranian mother detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers has been released this week following advocacy from Republican House Majority Leader Steve Scalise. Mandonna 'Donna' Kashanian, 64, was detained by ICE officers last month as she gardened in the yard of her New Orleans home. She had been living in the United States for 47 years and her husband and daughter are both U.S. citizens.
Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Iranian mother released from ICE detention after Republican House Majority Leader intervenes
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — An Iranian mother detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers has been released this week following advocacy from Republican House Majority Leader Steve Scalise. Mandonna 'Donna' Kashanian, 64, was detained by ICE officers last month as she gardened in the yard of her New Orleans home. She had been living in the United States for 47 years and her husband and daughter are both U.S. citizens. Kashanian had been allowed to stay in the U.S. as long as she checked in regularly with immigration authorities, as she had done without fail, her family and attorney said. After a surge of community support for Kashanian, Scalise, who represents Louisiana's First Congressional District, including the New Orleans suburbs, told media outlet WDSU that he asked the Department of Homeland Security to give Kashanian 'a fair shake.' Scalise said Kashanian should be judged on 'her life's work' and role in her community. 'When she was picked up, we looked at it and said, 'Are they really looking at it the right way, objectively?'' Scalise told WDSU. 'And so they took a second look at it.' Scalise's intervention was 'absolutely crucial' to behind-the-scenes advocacy to secure Kashanian's release, her attorney Ken Mayeaux told The Associated Press. What happens next for Kashanian's legal status is still being worked out, he added. Scalise's office did not respond to a request for comment from The AP. Kashanian had been a 'devoted mother and wife, a caretaker, neighbor and dedicated volunteer' with Habitat for Humanity, her local school district and other organizations, said Rep. Stephanie Hilferty, a Republican who represents Kashanian's community. More than 100 of Kashanian's neighbors wrote letters of support for her, which Hilferty told AP she and Scalise had shared with President Donald Trump's administration. 'She's just been an incredible volunteer and servant to our Lakeview community, everybody knows her because of all she gives and does,' said Connie Uddo, a neighbor of Kashanian's who leads the NOLA Tree Project where Kashanian and husband have volunteered for years. Some neighbors wrote letters addressed to Trump expressing support for his immigration policies but saying that some people like Kashanian were being detained improperly and urging him to reconsider her case. Kashanian had arrived in the U.S. in 1978 on a student visa and unsuccessfully applied for asylum based on her father's support of the U.S.-backed shah. ICE New Orleans said in a June post on X that Kashanian had failed to depart the U.S. after the Board of Immigration Appeals upheld a deportation order in 1992. 'She was ordered by a judge to depart the U.S. and didn't,' the agency said. 'Shouldn't be a surprise we came knocking.' But Kashanian was allowed to remain with her husband and child as long as she checked in regularly with immigration authorities, her family said. For decades, she had 'faithfully and fully complied with those terms,' said Mayeaux, her attorney. She even managed to check in with authorities while displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Russell Milne, Kashanian's husband, told AP his family was 'extremely grateful' for all the support from their community and elected officials. Kashanian met her husband while bartending as a student in the late 1980s. She volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, filmed Persian cooking tutorials on YouTube and doted on the neighboring children. 'She's meeting her obligations,' Milne told AP following her detention. 'She's retirement age. She's not a threat. Who picks up a grandmother?' The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately provide comment on Kashanian's release. Other Iranians living in the U.S. for decades have also been picked up by immigration authorities, and U.S. military strikes on Iran have raised concerns that more may be taken into custody and deported. Iran was one of 12 countries subject to a U.S. travel ban that took effect this month. Immigration authorities are seeking to arrest 3,000 people a day under directives from the Trump administration. Kashanian's attorney Mayeaux said he represents other clients who had built lives in the U.S. over decades and are now being detained and deported. 'There is still a tremendous amount of heartache that is happening for people,' Mayeaux said. 'The difference is they lived quiet lives and didn't have access to political power to change the outcomes in their cases.' ___ Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
