AFP, Paris
French police moved out around 2,000 migrants from a makeshift camp in an area north of Paris on Friday, the 35th evacuation operation in two years in the capital.
A similar roundup of the mostly Afghan and African migrants around the Porte de la Chapelle area in July saw 2,800 moved from the streets into temporary accommodation.
The new centrist government under President Emmanuel Macron has promised improved procedures and new resources for genuine asylum seekers, but has warned it will take a tougher line on economic migrants.
Israel freezes controversial settlement law
AFP, Jerusalem
Israel’s Supreme Court has frozen implementation of a law legalising dozens of Jewish settlements built on private Palestinian land, which the UN labelled a “thick red line”.
Court documents seen by AFP Friday show that Judge Neal Hendel issued Thursday an open-ended restraining order suspending a bill passed by parliament that would retroactively legalise a number of outposts across the occupied West Bank.
Thirty-seven inmates killed in govt raid on Venezuelan prison
Reuters, Venezuela
Thirty-seven inmates were killed during an overnight raid by government security forces on a prison in Venezuela’s southern jungle state of Amazonas, the governor said on Wednesday.
Human rights advocates have long complained that violent gangs exercise de facto control over many of the chaotic country’s prisons and have ready access to automatic weapons and even hand grenades.
Chicago activist loses US citizenship
AP, Detroit
An activist known for helping Arab women in the Chicago area lost her U.S. citizenship Thursday and will be deported for failing to disclose convictions for bombings in Jerusalem decades ago.
Rasmea Odeh was interrupted three times by a judge as she used her court appearance in Detroit to criticize Israel and the United States and deny that she’s a terrorist.
