(2025-12-18). LHC declares passengers offloading without written reason illegal. tribune.com.pk 
Immigration officials can no longer restrain passengers on verbal orders alone, the Lahore High Court (LHC) has ruled, striking down the practice as a violation of fundamental rights. | The verdict delivers a sharp legal check to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) just days after it revealed the scale of its current dragnet: 66,154 travellers offloaded in 2025. | Presiding over the Multan Bench, Justice Ali Zia Bajwa issued a two-page interim order declaring that providing written reasons for a travel ban is not a mere formality but a "substantive legal safeguard". | During the hearing of a petition challe…
(2025-12-18). Democracy Now! 2025-12-18 Thursday. democracynow.org Headlines for December 18, 2025; "Divorced from Reality": Economist Dean Baker Fact-Checks Trump's Primetime Speech; Meet Tania Nemer, Fired Immigration Judge Suing Trump Admin Amid Purge of Immigration Court System; "No Military Solution": Is Peace Possible in Sudan as "Proxy War" Expands? | Headlines for December 18, 2025; "Divorced from Reality": Economist Dean Baker Fact-Checks Trump's Primetime Speech; Meet Tania Nemer, Fired Immigration Judge Suing Trump Admin Amid Purge of Immigration Court System; "No Military Solution": Is Peace Possib…
(2025-12-18). Trump, Immigration, Trans Rights: The Stories That Shaped 2025. aclu.org 
This year, the ACLU's most-read stories reflected the pressing issues shaping life in America: challenges to civil liberties, attacks on marginalized communities, and the ongoing struggle to hold those in power accountable. | From Trump's unprecedented moves to expand domestic military operations and cut funding to public media, to the targeting of immigrant families and activists like Mahmoud Khalil, these stories reveal a society grappling with the consequences of abuse of power, political retaliation, and discrimination. Our work explaining Trump's executive orders undermining protections for transgender pe…
(2025-12-18). Bondi attack resurrects spectre of Abu Sayyaf Group. tribune.com.pk 
The father-and-son duo suspected of unleashing the deadly attack on Jewish people attending a religious festival at one of Australia's most iconic beaches had received "military-style training" in the Philippines, where they spent most of November, Australia's public broadcaster ABC has reported, citing security sources. | At least 15 people were killed and dozens more injured when Sajid Akram, 50, and his 24-year-old son, Naveed Akram, went on a rampage during Hanukkah celebrations at Bondi Beach in Sydney. Sajid was later killed in a police operation. | According to the Philippines Bureau of Immigration, the…
(2025-12-18). EEUU envía migrantes a Base Naval de Guantánamo a la espera de su deportación. radiohc.cu El Gobierno de Estados Unidos envió en las últimas horas a un nuevo grupo de migrantes a su base naval de Guantánamo, en territorio usurpado a Cuba, a la espera de su deportación, en el marco del endurecimiento de las políticas migratorias del presidente Donald Trump. | El traslado fue confirmado a Europa Press por fuentes del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional estadounidense después de que el diario The New York Times indicara que 22 migrantes cubanos habían sido llevados este martes a Guantánamo, en un vuelo organizado por el Servicio de Control de Inmigración y Aduanas (ICE, según sus siglas en inglés). | "Hem…
(2025-12-18). EU: New Rules on Asylum and 'Safe Countries' Undermine the Foundation of Refugee Protection. commondreams.org Reacting to the agreements between the European Parliament and Council on new EU asylum rules, which undermine the very foundation of refugee protection, Olivia Sundberg Diez, the EU Advocate on Migration and Asylum at Amnesty International said: "This is an unprecedented attack on asylum in the EU, which must be understood in the context of a vast array of punitive deportation measures, still under negotiation. This shameless attempt to sidestep international legal obligations further shifts EU responsibility for refugee protection to countries outside Europe and is far from a humane migration policy that upho…
(2025-12-18). Immigrants Are Skipping Vital Health Care Appointments Amid Federal Raids. truthout.org As immigrants in southeastern Louisiana and Mississippi braced for this month's U.S. Homeland Security operation, Cristiane Rosales-Fajardo received a panicked phone call from a friend. The friend's Guatemalan tenant, who didn't know she was pregnant, had just delivered a premature baby in the New Orleans house. The parents lacked legal residency, and the mother refused to go to a hospital… |
(2025-12-18). The Poacher's Trail: Part 2. newarab.com 
For 15 months, The New Arab, in cooperation with Bridges Investigations, explored the shadowy world of Maltese bird hunters. | We uncovered how Maltese hunters, frustrated by local laws, were travelling to Egypt to slaughter migratory birds in vast numbers. Their hunting activities have been described as an environmental disaster, and a threat to the thousands of migratory birds who rely on Egyptian wetlands. | We went undercover in Fayoum. Followed the smuggling routes from Egypt's lakes to Maltese homes. And saw how Europe's conservation efforts collapse when its citizens pull the trigger abroad. | This is more…
(2025-12-18). I Met Migrant Women in Calais Hoping to Reach the UK and This Is What I Learnt. bylinetimes.com I was in a car with charity workers somewhere between Calais and Dunkirk. We were on our way to a women's centre: a small sports pavilion that offers women in the camps a chance to shower, do their hair, put on make-up, have a gossip, a brief moment of normality in a hostile place. | My companions were chatting in French, which I struggled to follow. So, when they exclaimed, "Huit." I had to ask, "Eight what?". | Pregnant women, they said. | My heart sank. I asked whether they would cross in the small boats. They told me the women hope so. It is safer to cross before the babies are born. Some, though, are forc…
(2025-12-18). An Activist Guide To Trump's National Security Strategy 2025. popularresistance.org "We're not just waiting around to see what happens," said Mich González of the Southeast Dignity Not Detention coalition in New Orleans as they prepare to challenge ICE deportation raids in their communities. | "We're talking to our brothers and sisters that organized in Los Angeles, that organized in Chicago, that are organizing and continuing to protect each other in North Carolina, and we're taking all their lessons," said González | Thousands of miles away, Chief Marilyn Slett of the Haí…´zaqv Nation and secretary-treasurer of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs declares: "We will not stand by while the C…
(2025-12-18). Thousands of EU farmers clash with police in Brussels. albawaba.com ALBAWABA- Thousands of farmers from across the European Union converged on Brussels on Thursday, blocking major roads with hundreds of tractors, clashing with police, and disrupting traffic during an EU leaders' summit. Protesters hurled eggs, potatoes, and smoke bombs, set off fireworks, and ignited fires, prompting authorities to respond with tear gas and water cannons. The demonstrations oppose the proposed EU-Mercosur free trade agreement with South American nations including Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. Farmers warn the deal would flood European markets with cheaper beef, poultry, sugar, and oth…
(2025-12-18). As Zohran Mamdani prepares to enter City Hall he faces pressure from an unlikely source — Palestine activists. scheerpost.com By Michael Arria for Mondoweiss Last month, activists gathered outside New York City's Park East Synagogue to protest an event hosted by Nefesh B'Nefesh, an organization that assists Jewish individuals in relocating to Israel. The protest, which was organized by the Palestinian Assembly for Liberation (PAL Awda), was condemned as antisemitic by pro-Israel groups and leaders over chants of …
(2025-12-18). Angry farmers block Brussels roads with tractors over Mercosur trade deal. aljazeera.com Thousands protest as EU leaders clash over pact farmers fear will flood Europe with cheaper South American goods.
(2025-12-18). Protests in Bangladesh as India cites security concerns. tribune.com.pk 
Bangladesh police on Thursday stopped protesters from marching towards an Indian diplomatic mission, a day after India's foreign ministry conveyed its concerns over the "deteriorating" security environment in the country. | Ties between the two countries have been frosty since former prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India following a student-led uprising last year. | Dhaka has repeatedly asked for her extradition so that she could stand trial for her alleged crimes, with Delhi responding that it was examining the requests. | On Thursday, dozens of demonstrators began marching towards the assistant Indian h…
(2025-12-18). Protesting farmers clash with police as EU debates trade deal. aljazeera.com Angry farmers drove their tractors into Brussels and faced tear gas from police as EU leaders debated a trade deal.
(2025-12-18). Leader of 2024 Bangladesh student protests dies in a Singapore hospital. aljazeera.com Sharif Osman Bin Hadi was a leading figure during the uprising toppled former prime minister Sheikh Hasina in 2024.
(2025-12-18). Maduro calls global protests, accuses US pf oil piracy in Caribbean sea clash; 'Will defeat…'. hindustantimes.com Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has called for global protests against the United States, accusing Washington of stealing Venezuelan oil in the Caribbean Sea. Speaking at the Constituent Congress of the Working Class in Caracas, Maduro urged port workers, oil and gas workers, and the merchant marine worldwide to mobilise against what he described as US "piracy." He stressed national unity against foreign interference and claimed Venezuela has been resisting a months-long campaign of pressure, including military deployments near its coast. Maduro also criticised Chile's president-elect José Antonio Kast, escal…
(2025-12-18). Police forced march for hunger strikers to divert: images. thecanary.co 
Police forced last night's weekly protest march to the BBC's London HQ in solidarity with the hunger strikers to divert to avoid supposed hurt to Jewish groups meeting for Hanukkah. Jewish people have been front and centre of every protest. The march was excluded from a large area around the BBC: To rub salt into […] | By
(2025-12-18). UK police arrest four people for pro-Palestine 'Intifada' calls. aljazeera.com Arrests made at protests supporting imprisoned Palestine Action hunger strikers, as Gaza death toll surpasses 70,000.