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Musk’s SpaceX sued over alleged discrimination against refugees in hiring

US Department of Justice says company wrongly claimed law meant it could only hire citizens and permanent residents.

SpaceX is being sued by the US Department of Justice over its hiring practices [File: Jae C Hong/AP Photo]

SpaceX, the rocket company owned by Elon Musk, has been sued by the United States government for allegedly discriminating against asylum seekers and refugees in its hiring practices.

SpaceX wrongly claimed that the company could only hire US citizens and permanent residents due to export control laws, dissuading asylum seekers and refugees from applying for jobs, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a statement on Thursday.

While SpaceX must comply with legal restrictions on the shipment of certain goods and technologies overseas, US law does not require companies to treat asylum seekers and refugees differently than citizens or green card holders, the DOJ said.

The justice department said it would ask the courts to impose civil penalties on SpaceX and seek backpay for asylum seekers and refugees who were deterred from applying for jobs or denied employment.

“Our investigation found that SpaceX failed to fairly consider or hire asylees and refugees because of their citizenship status and imposed what amounted to a ban on their hire regardless of their qualification, in violation of federal law,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the justice department’s Civil Rights Division said.

“Our investigation also found that SpaceX recruiters and high-level officials took actions that actively discouraged asylees and refugees from seeking work opportunities at the company. Asylees and refugees have overcome many obstacles in their lives, and unlawful employment discrimination based on their citizenship status should not be one of them.”

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2023/8/25/musks-spacex-sued-over-alleged-discrimination-against-refugees-in-hiring

Cyclone Mocha heads to Bangladesh, Myanmar coasts, threatening refugees

After brewing in the Bay of Bengal for days, Cyclone Mocha is likely to intensify further and make landfall between Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh and Myanmar on May 13

People shelter at a monastery in Sittwe town in Myanmar’s Rakhine state on May 12, 2023, ahead of the expected landfall of Cyclone Mocha. | Photo Credit: AFP

A powerful storm Cyclone Mocha packing winds of up to 175 kph (109 miles) barrelled towards the coasts of eastern Bangladesh and Myanmar on May 13, threatening around a million Rohingya refugees and others living in low-lying areas.

After brewing in the Bay of Bengal for days, Cyclone Mocha is likely to intensify further and make landfall between Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh and Myanmar on Sunday, Bangladesh Meteorological Department said in a bulletin.

Cox’s Bazar, a southeastern border district, is where more than a million Rohingya refugees live, most having fled a military-led crackdown in Myanmar in 2017.

Mocha – classified as a ‘very severe cyclonic storm’ – is expected to cut a path through Myanmar’s Rakhine and northwestern region, where six million people need humanitarian assistance and 1.2 million are displaced, the U.N. humanitarian office said.

Since a junta seized power two years ago, Myanmar has been plunged into chaos and a resistance movement is fighting the military on multiple fronts after a bloody crackdown on protests.

A spokesperson for the Myanmar junta did not respond to a phone call.

“We are focusing on saving lives,” said Mohammad Shamsud Douza, a Bangladesh government official responsible for refugees. “People who are at risk of landslides will be evacuated.”

Thousands of trained community workers and volunteers had already been deployed, alongside medical and rescue personnel who are on stand-by, he said.

Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/cyclone-mocha-heads-to-bangladesh-myanmar-coast-updates/article66845733.ece

Boat between Greece and Malta carrying about 400 ‘people in distress’ is ‘taking on water’

Support service Alarm Phone tweeted its concerns, saying it had received a call from the boat, which departed from Tobruk in Libya. While German NGO Sea-Water International said those on board were in “imminent danger of death”.

The boat said to be carrying people in distress. Pic: Sea-Watch International

A boat carrying about 400 people “in distress” has been spotted adrift between Greece and Malta and is taking on water, support services have said.

German NGO Sea-Watch International tweeted that those on board were in “imminent danger of death” and called on the EU to act.

Alarm Phone also tweeted its concerns, saying it had received a call from the boat, which departed from Tobruk in Libya.

People on board are panicking and several need medical attention, Alarm Phone said, including a child, a pregnant woman and someone with a physical disability

The vessel is said to be out of fuel and its lower deck is full of water.

The captain has left and there is “nobody who can steer the boat”, Alarm Phone said.

It added that it had alerted the authorities.

The boat is now in the Maltese Search and Rescue area, Alarm Phone added.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/boat-between-greece-and-malta-carrying-about-400-people-in-distress-is-taking-on-water-12853953

Myanmar coup: Thousands of Burmese flee to Thailand after intense fighting

Burmese refugees have fled across to border to Thailand

Some 10,000 Burmese people have fled to Thailand to escape fierce fighting between the military and units of a powerful ethnic armed group since Wednesday, Thai authorities said.

They are fleeing from Shwe Kokko town, controlled by a pro-military militia and home to Chinese-owned casinos.

This is one of the largest cross-border movements of people since a military coup two years ago.

The military has not released a statement yet about the fighting.

It is the latest in a civil war that has been raging since the coup in February 2021. Two years on, the military government has failed to impose its authority on large areas of the country. It is battling established ethnic armed groups in border areas that have been at war with the military for decades, and recently-formed anti-coup militias that call themselves People’s Defence Forces (PDFs) in much of the rest of the country.

Many thousands of people have been killed and some 1.4 million have been displaced since the coup. Nearly one third of the country’s population is in need of aid, according to the United Nations.

The latest fighting broke out after the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and its allies launched attacks on military outposts and a gate camp near Shwe Kokko on Wednesday. More than 80 people have been killed on both sides, KNLA told BBC Thai.

Aid workers in the border regions – Thailand’s Mae Sot and Mae Ramat areas – have called for urgent humanitarian assistance as refugees seek shelter in schools, monasteries and rubber farms.

“In the long run, we need more donors,” said Kay Thi Htwe, a Burmese volunteer at a monastery in Mae Sot, which is hosting 500 refugees.

The KNLA has also closed the Myawaddy-Kawkareik Asia highway – one of the main roads to the border – for two weeks starting Friday.

Back in Shwe Kokko, the military-aligned Border Guard Forces which controls the enclave is protecting the casinos and warning residents to stay indoors.

This comes as the military continues to crush civilian resistance, targeting schools, clinics and villages.

Earlier this week, the military said it had arrested 15 teachers who had been giving online classes for a school backed by the exiled National Unity Government (NUG).

The teachers were taken from their homes in Mandalay, Saigang and Magway, a member of the General Strike Committee of Basic Education Workers told the BBC. In July, about 30 teachers were reportedly arrested because they worked for an NUG-recognised online school.

From the start, education has been a battleground in Myanmar. Teachers were among the first, along with health-workers, to walk out in protest against the coup, and were in the front line of the huge protests called by the Civil Disobedience Movement in the first weeks after the military takeover.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-65210336