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EU agrees to trigger never-before-used law to host Ukrainian refugees

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EU agrees to trigger never-before-used law to host Ukrainian refugees

Confronted with the best human exodus for the reason that finish of World Battle II, the European Union has agreed to set off a never-before-used directive to grant non permanent safety for Ukrainians fleeing the navy aggression waged by Russian forces.

Multiple million Ukrainians have fled the nation since Russia’s invasion started one week in the past, in accordance with the United Nations refugee company.

The overwhelming majority of those exiled individuals have arrived in EU nations with Poland registering over half 1,000,000 Ukrainian refugees and Hungary seeing greater than 130,000 arrivals.

To deal with the massive and abrupt variety of migrants, the 27 member states have dusted off a 2001 EU directive that had by no means been used earlier than and is designed to supply instant help and safety to struggle refugees.

The Momentary Safety Directive circumvents the historically overburdened asylum process and provides a fast and simplified path to entry safety throughout the EU.

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Ukrainian refugees will probably be given residence permits to remain contained in the bloc for at the least one yr, a interval that will probably be robotically prolonged for an extra yr. Member states can then determine to delay the distinctive measure by yet one more yr if the struggle continues to ravage the nation.

Though Ukraine shouldn’t be a part of the passport-free Schengen Space, its nationals are entitled to visa-free journey for as much as 90 days. The EU’s scheme intends to supply an enduring answer as soon as the 90-day restrict is exhausted.

Following a gathering in Brussels on Thursday, nationwide ministers reached a unanimous settlement to maneuver forward and activate the Momentary Safety Directive. The regulation will enter into pressure as soon as the proposal is formally adopted by the Council, a step anticipated to happen within the coming days.

The particular safety will probably be given instantly after adoption.

The choice was described as “historic” and a “nice day” by Ylva Johansson, European Commissioner for dwelling affairs, who praised the EU’s “unity” and “firmness” all through the battle.

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“I am pleased with being European, I am pleased with the solidarity that particular person residents are exhibiting” in the direction of Ukraine, Johansson stated on the finish of the ministerial assembly.

Her celebratory phrases had been echoed by France’s inside minister Gérald Darmanin. France is presently holding the EU Council’s rotating presidency and has been one the main advocates behind the directive’s activation.

“We shouldn’t be naïve,” Johansson famous. “Tens of millions and thousands and thousands of Ukrainian refugees will in fact trigger a problem to our societies.”

Filippo Grandi, the UN Excessive Commissioner for Refugees, additionally welcomed the information, calling it “unprecedented”.

Thursday’s resolution shouldn’t be the one step within the EU’s migration plans and have to be accompanied by additional logistic and assist motion, stated Catherine Woollard, director of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE).

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“We have to see the EU asylum company offering assist, together with operations, and member states requesting that form of assist from the company,” Woollard informed Euronews.

“Above all, the essential factor is to stay united additionally within the response to displacement for safety causes, in addition to for humanitarian seasons.”

How does the Momentary Safety Directive work?

Authorised in 2001 within the aftermath of the Yugoslavia and Kosovo wars, the Momentary Safety Directive is a rare scheme that grants instant and non permanent safety to displaced individuals coming from non-EU nations

Apart from the authorized proper to remain inside a EU member state, the directive permits entry to the training system, labour market, healthcare, housing, skilled help and social welfare.

The safety will apply to Ukrainian nationals and their family, in addition to to long-term residents from different nationalities who’re unable to return safely to their nation of origin.

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Quick-term residents, like seasonal staff and change college students, won’t profit from the non permanent safety however will probably be however allowed to enter EU territory to plan their return journeys.

The safety could be granted by any EU nation, not solely by the primary nation reached by the refugee. In latest days, the nationwide rail corporations of Germany, Austria, France and Belgium are providing free-of-charge tickets for Ukrainian refugees who want to cross the continent and attain their nation.

For individuals who fled their properties with out their passports or some other means of private identification, the Fee says member states can chill out border controls and permit them to enter their territory to allow them to attain a protected location, the place the ID checks will probably be carried out.

Displaced Ukrainians can deliver their private belongings with out being topic to conventional customs duties.

The non permanent safety doesn’t robotically imply the particular person is granted asylum. However these underneath the particular scheme are in a position to lodge an asylum utility at any time throughout their keep.

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Notably, the 2001 directive relies on a “steadiness of efforts” between EU nations: the allocation of refugees is completed in accordance with the capacities of every authorities.

This marks a major U-turn from the be aware struck in the course of the 2015 migration disaster when some capitals vehemently opposed a burden-sharing coverage, leaving front-line Mediterranean states overwhelmed by arrivals.

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Fact Check: Would Donald Trump force states to monitor women’s pregnancies?

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Fact Check: Would Donald Trump force states to monitor women’s pregnancies?

Kamala Harris often claims that a Trump administration would interfere with pregnancies. But is that really true?

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On multiple occasions in her closing pitch to voters, Vice President Kamala Harris said her opponent, former President Donald Trump, would intrude on women’s pregnancies.

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As she denounced Trump’s record on reproductive rights, she said on October 29 that he would “force states to monitor women’s pregnancies”. She urged listeners to “Google Project 2025 and read the plans for yourself”, referring to a conservative policy blueprint assembled by some of Trump’s supporters.

Harris repeated the line the following night at a rally in Madison, Wisconsin.

Harris’s statement echoed a similar one by her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who said that Project 2025 would require women to “register with a new federal agency when you get pregnant”.

The Harris campaign again pointed to Project 2025 when asked for evidence of Harris’s claim.

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Project 2025 is a policy blueprint for the next Republican administration developed by Trump’s allies, including The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, and at least 140 people who worked in the Trump administration. It is not a Trump campaign document.

Project 2025 does not call on states or the federal government to monitor pregnancies from the moment they are discovered. The plan would call for more comprehensive monitoring of pregnancies that end in foetal death, such as abortions, miscarriages and stillbirths, than the US government currently requires.

The manual proposes stronger state-based abortion data as part of its broader push to refashion the Health and Human Services Department into a “Department of Life”.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis looks at a book referring to ‘Project 2025’ on Day 3 of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, Illinois, US, on August 21, 2024 [Brendan Mcdermid/Reuters]

Project 2025 proposes the federal government withhold money from states that do not report more detailed abortion data to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The document calls for the Health and Human Services Department to “use every available tool, including the cutting of funds”, to ensure states report the following:

  • The number of abortions within their borders.
  • The weeks of gestation the abortion took place.
  • The reason for the abortion.
  • The pregnant woman’s state of residence.
  • The method of the abortion.

It says these statistics should be separated by category, including spontaneous miscarriage, treatments that incidentally result in foetal death (such as chemotherapy), stillbirths and induced abortion.

Currently, states are not required to submit abortion data to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but the majority do, except for California, Maryland and New Hampshire. To collect individual state data, most state vital statistics agencies have designed a form that abortion providers use for reporting.

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Harris’s statements in recent days have become less specific and even less accurate than in her speech at the Democratic National Convention. Then, she said Trump “plans to create a national anti-abortion coordinator and force states to report on women’s miscarriages and abortions”. That is not true.

Trump has distanced himself from Project 2025 in recent months, and he has not called for monitoring pregnancy outcomes or pregnancies broadly.

When Trump was asked in April whether states should monitor or punish women who have illegal abortions, Trump said some states “might” choose to do that but maintained that it was up to them.

Our ruling

Harris said Trump would “force states to monitor women’s pregnancies”.

The claim is wrong on two counts. Trump has not proposed forcing states to monitor pregnancies. It is also not an accurate depiction of a Project 2025 policy proposal.

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Project 2025 recommends the federal government require states to report complete data on pregnancies that end in foetal death and to use federal funding as leverage to ensure compliance.

This data would reflect certain pregnancy outcomes, including abortions, miscarriages and stillbirths. It would not involve the government tracking the progress of all pregnancies from start to finish.

The statement is inaccurate. We rate it false.

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Tropical Storm Rafael spins toward the Cayman Islands as Cuba prepares for hurricane hit

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Tropical Storm Rafael spins toward the Cayman Islands as Cuba prepares for hurricane hit

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Tropical Storm Rafael chugged toward the Cayman Islands on Tuesday and was forecast to strengthen into a hurricane en route to Cuba.

The storm was located 105 miles (170 kilometers) southwest of Kingston, Jamaica, early Tuesday. It had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (95 kph) and was moving northwest at 13 mph (20 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

“Rafael is forecast to become a hurricane in the northwestern Caribbean near the Cayman Islands with further strengthening before it makes landfall in Cuba,” the center said.

The storm is expected to move near Jamaica on Tuesday morning, be near or over the Cayman Islands on Tuesday night and be near or over western Cuba on Wednesday.

A hurricane warning is in effect for the Cayman Islands and the Cuban provinces of Pinar del Rio, Artemisa, La Habana, Mayabeque, Matanzas and the Isle of Youth. A tropical storm warning is in effect for Jamaica and the Cuban provinces of Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, Sancti Spiritus and Ciego de Avila. A tropical storm watch is in effect for the Cuban provinces of Camaguey and Las Tunas and the Lower and Middle Florida Keys from Key West to west of the Channel 5 Bridge, as well as Dry Tortugas.

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“The storm is currently situated in an atmospheric and oceanic environment that is quite conducive for strengthening,” the hurricane center said.

Rafael is expected to pass near or over the Cayman Islands late Tuesday, with officials closing schools and government offices as they urged residents to prepare. Jamaica also closed down as a precaution, with the storm’s outer winds battering the island late Monday.

Rafael was forecast to approach Cuba on Wednesday. Cuban authorities said Monday night that some 37,000 people are under evacuation orders in far eastern Cuba, in the province of Guantanamo, due to bad weather.

The island is still struggling to recover from Hurricane Oscar, which battered the island about two weeks ago after making landfall in the eastern part of Cuba, killing at least six people. The storm also coincided with a large-scale blackout on the island.

Forecasters warned Rafael would unleash heavy rains across the western Caribbean that could lead to flooding and mudslides, with totals of 3 to 6 inches (7 to 15 centimeters) and up to 10 inches (25 cm) expected locally in Jamaica and parts of Cuba.

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Heavy rainfall also was expected to spread north into Florida and nearby areas of the southeast U.S. during the middle to late part of the week. A few tornadoes also were expected Wednesday over the Keys and southwesternmost Florida mainland.

Rafael is the 17th named storm of the season.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted the 2024 hurricane season was likely to be well above average, with between 17 and 25 named storms. The forecast called for as many as 13 hurricanes and four major hurricanes.

An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, seven of them hurricanes and three major hurricanes.

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U.S. soldier wounded during Gaza pier mission dies months after being injured

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U.S. soldier wounded during Gaza pier mission dies months after being injured

A soldier who was injured amid last summer’s Gaza pier mission recently died, the U.S. Army confirmed.

Sgt. Quandarius Davon Stanley, 23, passed away on Oct. 31, according to an online obituary. He was one of three soldiers injured during the Gaza pier mission, which involved providing humanitarian aid to Gazans amid the Israel-Hamas war.

The Biden administration had sought to create a temporary pier to facilitate bringing aid into Gaza. The effort, which began in May and ended in July, cost nearly $230 million and delivered significantly less aid than it had promised.

Bad weather and miscalculations had contributed to the mission’s failures, though the military considered it a success.

US BOMBERS ARRIVE IN MIDDLE EAST AS CONCERNS OF IRANIAN ATTACK ON ISRAEL MOUNT

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Quandarius Davon Stanley, who served during the Gaza pier mission, passed away after receiving critical injuries over the summer. (Getty Images / U.S. Army)

In a statement provided to Reuters, the Army confirmed Stanley’s death. The young soldier had recently retired from the military and was receiving long-term medical care.

“Stanley was an instrumental and well respected first line leader in the 7th Transportation Brigade Expeditionary (TBX), especially during the mission to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza,” Colonel John Gray, the commander of the unit, said.

In June, the deputy commander of U.S. Central Command reported that two soldiers on the mission suffered a sprained ankle and a minor back injury, respectively. 

ISRAEL KILLS ANOTHER HEZBOLLAH COMMANDER IN RETALIATORY STRIKES: IDF

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Aerial of cargo ship

Humanitarian aid is lifted by a crane operated by Soldiers assigned to the 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary) from a Navy causeway at the Port of Ashdod, Israel. (Malcolm Cohens-Ashley/U.S. Army Central via Getty Images)

The official noted that the third service member – who was not named at the time – was injured while supporting the mission and was evacuated to an Israeli hospital.

“We’re clear eyed and we continue to look at force protection all day, every day and as it stands now we assess the operations can continue,” U.S. Vice Admiral Brad Cooper said.

Soldiers near ship

US soldiers stand on the pier as the USAV SP4 James A. Loux casts off from Joint Base Langley-Eustis during a media preview of the 7th Transportation Brigade deployment in Hampton, Virginia, on March 12, 2024. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

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Fox News Digital reached out to the U.S. Army for comment, but did not immediately hear back.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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