Despite the numerous protests across America concerning U.S. deportations, the White House recently announced a plan to end the issuing of visas within three African countries and Cambodia.
With Eritrea, Guinea and Sierra Leone running the risk of no longer being able to send deported residents to America, many U.S. citizens are alarmed that this may be another tactic by the U.S. government to enhance immigration efforts.
“Some deportees have wives and children,” said Khieu Sopheak, a spokesperson for Cambodia, according to VOA. “Even though [they] are not American, they still have houses and families, and it [is] like taking them away from their families. We are only requesting for a negotiation.”
Last week, the Department of Homeland Security notified the State Department that the four countries were refusing or delaying the acceptance of nationals thought to be in the United States illegally, which violates the Immigration and Nationality Act and leaves the State Department to figure out how to implement the order.
Ghana Erects First Radio Telescope
Ghana recently launched its first radio astronomy observatory in an effort to widen knowledge of African skies, catalyze skills development and attract scientists.
A 104-foot-wide radio telescope, converted from an old telecommunications dish, serves as the heart of the observatory in Kuntunse, about an hour from the capital Accra.
“We’re able to detect activities that are happening in some patches of the sky, and link up with other facilities across the world,” said Bernard Duah Asabere, manager of the new observatory and the country’s first local astronomer. “Because of our position, we see the northern and southern hemispheres and can tell the world things [the scientific community does] does not know.”
Until the conversion of the Kuntunse telecoms dish, South Africa was the only African country with radio telescopes that linked to other countries. These telescopes connected to European networks, but provided limited coverage to other parts of Africa.
With the inclusion of the Ghanaian telescope, global radio astronomy networks will be able to see the universe in greater detail than before.
Massive Drug Ring Spans from Africa to New York
A London man was recently arrested in connection with a massive international drug-trafficking operation that reached from Kenya all the way to New York, U.S. prosecutors announced Friday.
According to charging documents, Muhammad Asif Hafeez had been moving heroin, methamphetamine and other drugs by the ton since 2013.
The Pakistan-born Hafeez reportedly tried to set up a crystal meth lab in Mozambique with his staff, but was stopped by authorities after they seized several tons of ephedrine from a factory in India that the conspirators planned to use to make methamphetamine, prosecutors said.