I/III. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/court-to-cabbies-america-walls-up-against-visa-ban/articleshow/56862368.cms
Court to cabbies, America walls up against visa ban Chidanand Rajghatta | TNN & Agencies | Updated: Jan 30, 2017, 11.13 AM IST HIGHLIGHTS Protests erupt across US against President Trump's controversial visa ban for citizens from 7 Muslim majority countries Green card holders from the affected countries would not be prevented from returning to the US Seattle City Councilwoman and socialist activist Kshama Sawant speaks to the more than 1,000 people gathered a... Read More WASHINGTON: The US tech industry closed ranks and was joined by Hollywood and academia+ as America's liberal constituency fought in courts and demonstrated at airports+ against President Trump's executive order barring entry to refugees and citizens from several Muslim countries. The White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, appeared to reverse a key part of the order on Sunday, saying green card holders from the affected countries would not be prevented from returning to the US. He added that Pakistan may be included in the ban list in the future. Hours before, a federal judge issued an emergency stay on the order, preventing deportation of those arriving with valid papers. While activists, including cabbies (mostly immigrants) jammed terminals in New York and Washington airports in protest, Silicon Valley and Hollywood elites berated the Trump administration, standing up for America's tradition of welcoming immigration and benefiting from it. " Apple would not exist without immigration+ , let alone thrive and innovate the way we do," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a memo. Cook also revealed that in his recent conversations with officials in US, he had "made it clear that Apple believes deeply in the importance of immigration — both to our company and to our nation's future". "The executive order ignores the single truth that we have come to know; talented immigrants have had outsized contributions to the growth and prosperity of the US. Diversity in all of its forms is crucial to growth, innovation and a healthy, inclusive society," Mozilla CEO Chris Beard wrote in a memo, saying the "overly broad order and its implementation... is a bad precedent, ignores history, and is likely to do more lasting harm than good." Even Silicon Valley executives who have sought to engage with the Trump administration and have agreed to serve on his economic advisory committee and policy forums rejected the diktat. "The blanket entry ban on citizens from certain primarily Muslim countries is not the best way to address the country's challenges," Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted, adding, "Many people negatively affected by this policy are strong supporters of the US. They've done right, not wrong & don't deserve to be rejected." Among those affected immediately, besides students and academics, were sportsmen, including Sudanese basketballers and Iranian wrestlers who train in the US. The University of Michigan said it "welcomes and supports students without regard to their immigration status...and will continue to admit students in a manner consistent with our non-discrimination policy". Hollywood reacted strongly to reports that Academy Award winning Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi might not be able to enter US, with Motion Picture Association of America calling Trump's action "extremely troubling". "Along with liar, racist, misogynist, fool, infantile, sick, narcissist, with the Muslim ban we can now add heartless & evil to DT's repertoire," tweeted filmmaker Rob Reiner, adding, Trump's "desperate need for self aggrandisement is destroying US. Nothing will fill his black heart." Trump's decree found support in conservative media outlets such as Breitbart News and Drudge Report, which echoed under headlines such as "Silicon Sultans Panic", "Hollywood Meltdown", and "Journalists Freak". Breitbart News called the judge who struck down the order an "Obamaappointed, Schumer-allied" judge (Charles Schumer is a Democratic senator), while describing Council for American-Islamic Relations as a "terror-tied group causing chaos, promoting protests as Trump protects nation." II/III. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/29/world/europe/trump-executive-order-europe-merkel.html?src=twr&smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0 European Leaders Reject Trump’s Refugee Ban as Violating Principles By ALISON SMALEJAN. 29, 2017 President Trump with British Prime Minister Theresa May fielding questions during a news conference on Friday at the White House. Credit Stephen Crowley/The New York Times BERLIN — Reflecting mounting European anger and astonishment at President Trump, several countries on Sunday rejected — sometimes in blunt terms — his ban on all refugees and the citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries entering the United States. The spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said there was no justification for the policy — not even the fight against terrorism — of refusing to admit refugees fleeing war. Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain revised her stance on the American directive to take a harder line, while Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni of Italy said that Mr. Trump’s approach ran counter to basic European principles. Steffen Seibert, a spokesman for Ms. Merkel, said in a statement that she had reminded Mr. Trump during their telephone conversation on Saturday that the Geneva Convention on refugees obliges all member states to take in those fleeing war. The chancellor “is convinced that the resolute fight against terrorism does not justify blanket suspicion on grounds of origin or belief,” Mr. Seibert said, a day after Ms. Merkel and Mr. Trump talked at length for the first time since his inauguration on Jan. 20. Continue reading the main story RELATED COVERAGE Trump and Putin Connect, but Avoid Talk of Lifting U.S. Sanctions JAN. 28, 2017 Judge Blocks Trump Order on Refugees Amid Chaos and Outcry Worldwide JAN. 28, 2017 Merkel Feels Political Pressure in Germany as Europe Is in Flux SEPT. 2, 2016 Advertisement Continue reading the main story In London, after Mrs. May’s response to a question about the issue on Saturday at a news conference in Turkey prompted sharp criticism of her unwillingness to criticize Mr. Trump, her spokesman said that the British government did “not agree with this kind of approach and it is not one we will be taking.” Mr. Gentilioni, whose country took in more than 180,000 migrants last year, did not mention Mr. Trump or the United States by name in a post on Twitter, but there seemed little doubt about what he was referring to. “Italy is anchored in its values,” he wrote on Sunday. “Open society, pluralism, no discrimination. They are the pillars of Europe.” The comments came a day after President François Hollande of France, who unlike Ms. Merkel is not running for re-election this year, said he had reminded Mr. Trump of his “conviction that the ongoing fight to defend our democracy will be effective only if we sign up to respect to the founding principles and, in particular, the welcoming of refugees.” Mr. Seibert said Ms. Merkel had explained her stance to Mr. Trump, even though statements released in Washington and Berlin hours after their conversation made no mention of Ms. Merkel’s views on the executive order that the president signed on Friday. Instead, in notably spare tones, the statements suggested that the two had agreed to cooperate in reinforcing NATO and a trans-Atlantic alliance that Mr. Trump has questioned, most recently in an interview with European newspapers days before his inauguration, in which he called the alliance “obsolete.” Ms. Merkel reacted coolly to Mr. Trump’s election in November, offering close cooperation only on the basis of shared values such as equal treatment for all, with no discrimination on the basis of faith, political views, sexual orientation or ethnic origin. Her stance on Mr. Trump’s executive order was in line with that approach. Ms. Merkel, who grew up in Communist East Germany and is the daughter of a Lutheran pastor, has invoked that background in justifying her decision to allow more than one million asylum seekers, many of them Muslims, into Germany since 2015. In his interview with Germany’s Bild newspaper and The Times of London, Mr. Trump was strongly critical of Ms. Merkel’s refugee policy. “I think she made one very catastrophic mistake, and that was taking all of these illegals, you know, taking all of the people from wherever they come from,” he said. “And nobody even knows where they come from.” U.S. & POLITICS By AINARA TIEFENTHÄLER 3:14 Condemning Trump's Refugee Ban Video Condemning Trump's Refugee Ban Foreign leaders, aid groups and refugees and their families denounced President Trump's hard line on immigration and his order closing the nation’s borders to displaced people from around the world. By AINARA TIEFENTHÄLER. Photo by Hassan Jarrah/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images. Watch in Times Video » Embed ShareTweet Theinflux of refugees has hurt the chancellor politically and aided the rise of a far-right party that has ridden anti-migrant and anti-Muslim sentiment to capture seats in 10 of Germany’s 16 state legislatures. The party, Alternative for Germany, seems certain to enter the federal parliament after the Sept. 24 elections, which will follow crucial votes in the Netherlands and France this spring and help determine whether a weakened Europe can maintain its unity. A spokesman for Mrs. May, who was not identified by name under traditional ground rules, said that if Mr. Trump’s policy affects British citizens, as it will for people who are citizens of two countries, “then clearly we will make representations to the U.S. government about that.” Morning Briefing: Europe What you need to know to start your day, delivered to your inbox. Enter your email address Sign Up Receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. PRIVACY POLICY The comments followed a backlash from politicians and on social media, after comments from Mrs. May in a news conference in Ankara, the Turkish capital. She had flown there she after becoming the first foreign leader to meet with the new American president, a source of pride for Downing Street. After meeting Turkish leaders, she was asked several times by British journalists about her reaction to the executive order. She refused to condemn the policy and finally said — after reporters shouted, “Answer the question!” — that “the United States is responsible for the United States’ policy on refugees. The United Kingdom is responsible for the United Kingdom’s policy on refugees.” Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson took a harder line in a Twitter post on Sunday. “We will protect the rights and freedoms of UK nationals home and abroad,” he wrote. “Divisive and wrong to stigmatize because of nationality.” One person likely to be affected is a British sports hero, the Olympic champion runner Mo Farah. He was born in Somalia and came to Britain at age 8, and he may not be able to return to his training base and home in Oregon, where his family lives. The opposition Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, posted a photograph of Mrs. May and Mr. Trump on Twitter, writing: “hand in hand with the man who banned Mo Farah & Tory MP. Yet she remains silent.” “It’s deeply troubling that I will have to tell my children that Daddy might not be able to come home,” Mr. Farah wrote on Facebook, “to explain why the President has introduced a policy that comes from a place of ignorance and prejudice.” Mr. Trump’s executive order was preceded on Friday by an emotional appeal from the mayor of Berlin, related to another proposal by Mr. Trump that has proved polarizing — the construction of a wall along the United States border with Mexico. “Berlin, the city of Europe’s division, the city of Europe’s freedom, cannot silently look on as a country sets about building a new wall,” the mayor, Michael Müller, said in a statement. “We Berliners know better than most the pain caused when a whole continent is split by barbed wire and walls. Our division destroyed the prospects of millions. But ultimately, we, the people, overcame it,” he wrote, recalling the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. Mr. Müller took the unusual step of invoking another United States president, Ronald Reagan, in appealing to Mr. Trump to tear down walls rather than build new ones. Steven Erlanger contributed reporting from London, and Alissa J. Rubin from Paris. III. http://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2017/01/29/exp-gps-0129-take-travel-ban.cnn/video/playlists/trump-travel-ban/ [(2: 45 mins) Video: Fareed Zakaria] Fareed: Trump's travel ban 'fear mongering' Fareed Zakaria, GPS Fareed gives his take on why Trump's executive order on immigration is "fear mongering" that risks destroying the US's reputation as a beacon of hope. Source: CNN -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. 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