The EU has been strongly criticised over conditions in Greece’s largest refugee camp, where Oxfam reported women are wearing nappies at night for fear of leaving their tents to go to the toilet. The British-based NGO described the increasingly dangerous state of the EU-sponsored Moria camp on the island of Lesbos, where a 24-year-old man from Cameroon was found dead in the early hours of Tuesday as temperatures fell below freezing.

Under a landmark deal agreed between the EU and Turkey in March 2016 to reduce the number of people arriving into the continent, refugees seeking asylum on Greek islands have been forbidden from leaving “hotspot” camps to travel to the mainland.

Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president, has hailed the deal as a success for thwarting smuggling gangs and reducing migratory flows. But as a result, about 15,000 men, women and children are stranded in Lesbos, Chios, Kos, Samos and Leros, the islands closest to Turkey.(theguardian)…[+]

WASHINGTON- President Donald Trump called on Congress yesterday to give him $5.7 billion this year to help build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico but stopped short of declaring a national emergency to pay for the wall with military funds.

Facing Democratic opposition in Congress to a wall, Trump said in a prime-time televised speech that there was a growing security crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Using blunt language in an attempt to win public support, Trump said illegal immigrants and drugs flowing across the southern border posed a serious threat to American safety. “How much more American blood will be shed before Congress does its job?” Trump said after recounting gruesome details of murders he said were committed by illegal immigrants. But after days of hinting he might use presidential powers to declare an emergency as a first step toward directing money for the wall without congressional approval, Trump said he would continue seeking a solution to the impasse with Congress. Trump is scheduled to visit the southwest border tomorrow and it was not clear whether he still might choose to make the national emergency declaration.(Reuters)…[+]

New security measures are to be implemented to ensure the safety of all tourists, including cruise passengers, who visit this country. Agreement on the measures was reached during a meeting on Monday involving the Minister of Tourism Randall Mitchell, National Security Minister Stuart Young and the Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of National Security Glenda Jennings-Smith.

According to a statement from the Tourism Ministry, the closed-door meeting, which took place at the Ministry of National Security was requested by Mitchell following the Boxing Day injury and robbery of UK tourist, 72-year-old Sally Wilson while she was sight-seeing along the Queen’s Park Savannah with her husband Michael. They came to Port-of-Spain that day among a 4,363 passenger capacity MSC Preziosa cruise line. Wilson has subsequently thanked all those who assisted her in what she described as the “traumatic” incident.(Trinidad Express)…[+]