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US pauses visas for all Afghan passport holders, halts asylum requests

US pauses visas for all Afghan passport holders, halts asylum requests

Pause on visas and halting of asylum applications comes after shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, DC. The US State Department has announced it is “immediately” pausing issuing visas for individuals travelling on Afghan passports to protect “public safety”, as President Donald Trump administration’s immigration crackdown intensifies in the wake of a deadly attack on two National Guard members. The announcement on Friday came as United States immigration authorities said they are also halting decisions on all asylum applications for the foreseeable future. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed in a post on X on Friday that the State Department had “paused visa issuance for ALL individuals traveling on Afghan passports”. The move comes after authorities named Afghan national Rahmanaullah Lakanwal as the main suspect in Wednesday’s shooting in Washington, DC, which killed one National Guard member and left another in critical condition. “The United States has no higher priority than protecting our nation and our people,” Rubio said. President Trump’s State Department has paused visa issuance for ALL individuals traveling on Afghan passports.  The United States has no higher priority than protecting our nation and our people. https://t.co/HuR1Lj7F9t — Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) November 28, 2025 Lakanwal is alleged to have ambushed West Virginia National Guard members Sarah Beckstrom and Andrew Wolfe in an unprovoked attack as they patrolled near the White House. On Thursday evening, the Trump administration confirmed that 20-year-old Beckstrom had died from her injuries, while 24-year-old Wolfe remains in critical condition. Advertisement The CIA confirmed this week that Lakanwal had worked for the spy agency in Afghanistan before emigrating to the US shortly after the withdrawal of Western forces from the country in 2021. The office of US Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, announced on Friday that the charges against Lakanwal had been upgraded to first-degree murder, along with two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed. In a separate announcement on Friday, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) director Joseph Edlow said the agency had also paused all asylum decisions in the interest of the “safety of the American people”. “USCIS has halted all asylum decisions until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible,” Edlow said in a post on X. A day earlier, Edlow said he had ordered “a full-scale, rigorous re-examination of every green card for every alien from every country of concern” at the direction of Trump. The moves are the latest in a series of escalating restrictions imposed on immigration into the US at Trump’s urging. Trump, who called the deadly Washington, DC, shooting a “terrorist attack”, has on several occasions over recent days attacked former President Joe Biden’s administration’s immigration policies, including the granting of visas to Afghan nationals who worked with US forces in Afghanistan. Lakanwal came to the US under a Biden-era programme known as “Operation Allies Welcome”, following the US withdrawal in 2021. In a post on his Truth Social platform on Thursday, Trump ordered authorities to re-examine all green card applications from 19 “countries of concern”, before saying he planned to suspend immigration from “all Third World countries”. He did not define the term “Third World”, but the phrase is often used as a shorthand for developing countries in the Global South. Trump also said that he would “remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States, or is incapable of loving our Country”. “[I will] denaturalize migrants who undermine domestic tranquillity, and deport any foreign national who is a public charge, security risk, or non-compatible with Western civilization,” he said. Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has already taken aggressive measures to restrict immigration, announcing in October his administration would accept only 7,500 refugees in 2026 – the lowest number since 1980. Adblock test (Why?)

Belarus’s Lukashenko becomes second only leader to visit Myanmar since coup

Belarus’s Lukashenko becomes second only leader to visit Myanmar since coup

Alexander Lukashenko’s visit comes shortly before military government holds national polls widely condemned as a sham. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has arrived in Myanmar on a goodwill visit seen as lending support to the Southeast Asian country’s military government in advance of a widely condemned national election set to be held next month. Myanmar state media reported on Friday that Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the country’s self-installed de facto leader, met Lukashenko at the Presidential Palace in the capital, Naypyidaw. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list “This visit demonstrated Belarus’s goodwill and trust towards Myanmar and marked a historic occasion. It is the first time in 26 years of diplomatic relations that a Belarusian Head of State has visited Myanmar,” military run outlet The Global New Light of Myanmar reported. Lukashenko’s arrival at a military airport in Naypyidaw on Thursday night saw him welcomed by senior figures from Myanmar’s military government, including Prime Minister Nyo Saw, with full state honours and cultural performers. After former Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Lukashenko is only the second foreign leader to visit Myanmar since its military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government in a coup on February 1, 2021. The Belarusian leader’s visit also comes just a month before the military is set to host national elections that many domestic and international observers have condemned as a sham. His visit is widely viewed as lending support to the polls, due to be held in late December, and which the military government has touted as a return to normalcy. Advertisement Following Lukashenko’s meeting with Min Aung Hlaing on Friday, The Global New Light also confirmed that Belarus plans to “send an observation team to Myanmar” to monitor the polls. The leaders also agreed that “collaboration will also be strengthened in military technologies and trade”, a day after the Myanmar-Belarus Development Cooperation Roadmap 2026–2028 was signed in Yangon. Belarus state media quoted Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxim Ryzhenkov as saying that Myanmar has “significant potential in various industrial sectors”, while Belarus has “expertise and modern technologies in mechanical engineering”. “Myanmar plans to mechanise its agriculture, and we in Belarus produce a complete lineup of machinery and equipment. As our president says, no topics are off limits for our cooperation,” Ryzhenkov said. Belarus’s government is widely regarded as authoritarian, with Lukashenko serving as the former Soviet state’s first and only president since the office was established in 1994. Along with major backers China and Russia, Belarus is one of the very few countries that have continued to engage with Myanmar’s military leaders since the coup. A popular protest movement in the immediate aftermath of the coup has since morphed into a years-long civil war, further weakening the Myanmar military’s control over the fractured country, where ethnic armed groups have fought decades-long wars for independence. Preparing for the polls, military government census takers in late 2024 were only able to count populations in 145 of Myanmar’s 330 townships – indicating the military now controls less than half the country. Other recent estimates place the military’s control as low as 21 percent of the country’s territory. Ethnic armed groups and the anti-regime People’s Defence Force – which have pledged to boycott and violently disrupt the upcoming polls – control approximately double that amount of territory. Amid geographic limitations and raging violence, as well as the Myanmar military’s March 2023 dissolution of Aung San Suu Kyi’s hugely popular NLD, critics have pointed to the absurdity of holding elections in such circumstances. Preparing for the polls, military leaders carried out a mass amnesty on Thursday, pardoning or dropping charges against 8,665 people imprisoned for opposing army governance. Adblock test (Why?)

Son of jailed Mexican drug lord ‘El Chapo’ to plead guilty in US court

Son of jailed Mexican drug lord ‘El Chapo’ to plead guilty in US court

Joaquin Guzman Lopez, one of four sons of the Sinaloa cartel’s ‘El Chapo’, changes his plea to guilty, court documents show. Published On 29 Nov 202529 Nov 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share A son of notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman will plead guilty next week in the United States to narcotics trafficking charges, according to federal court documents. Joaquin Guzman Lopez, one of four sons of the jailed Sinaloa cartel leader “El Chapo”, originally pleaded not guilty after his arrest in July 2024 in Texas. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list But federal documents released on Friday show that Guzman Lopez is to change his plea at a hearing set for Monday at the US District Court in Chicago. Another of his three brothers, Ovidio Guzman, as part of a plea deal struck in exchange for a reduced sentence, pleaded guilty in July 2025 to conspiracy related to drug trafficking and two counts of participating in the activities of a criminal enterprise. Ovidio Guzman also admitted that he and his brothers, known collectively as “Los Chapitos” (Little Chapos), had taken over their father’s operations within the cartel following his arrest in 2016. Mexican broadcaster MVS Noticias said Guzman Lopez’s guilty plea could mean “a new chapter in the history of drug trafficking is about to be written”. “This move has raised numerous questions about the possible ongoing negotiations between him and US authorities,” the news outlet said. The ABC 7 Chicago news channel said federal prosecutors have said they will not now seek the death sentence for Guzman Lopez, and that there “is talk of a plea deal now in the works”. He is due to appear in court in Chicago at 1:30pm (19:30 GMT) on Monday. Two other “Chapitos” brothers, Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar and Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, have also been indicted on drug trafficking charges in the US but remain at large. Advertisement Their 68-year-old father, “El Chapo”, is serving a life sentence at a supermax federal prison in Colorado following his arrest and conviction in 2019. Guzman Lopez was taken into custody last year when he arrived in Texas on board a small private plane, along with the cofounder of the Sinaloa cartel, Ismael “Mayo” Zambada. Zambada claimed to have been misled about the destination and that he was abducted by Guzman Lopez to be handed over against his will to authorities in the US. Following the arrest, clashes intensified between two factions of the Sinaloa cartel, headed, respectively, by the “Los Chapitos” brothers and Zambada. The infighting led to approximately 1,200 deaths in Mexico and about 1,400 disappearances, according to official figures. Officials in the US accuse the Sinaloa cartel of trafficking fentanyl to the country, where the synthetic drug has caused tens of thousands of overdose deaths in recent years, straining relations with Mexico. The cartel is also one of six Mexican drug-trafficking groups that US President Donald Trump has designated as global terrorist organisations. Additional sanctions against the two fugitive “Los Chapitos” brothers were announced by Washington in June for fentanyl trafficking, and the reward for their capture was increased to $10m each. Adblock test (Why?)