Aussie parliament condemns Malaysia refugee deal (AP)

CANBERRA, Australia – Prime Minister Julia Gillard said her government will forge ahead with a proposed refugee swap deal with Malaysia despite the Australian parliament condemning the policy in a rare show of defiance Thursday.

Australia wants to send 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia in return for Australia resettling 4,000 registered refugees from among the 93,000 languishing in that Southeast Asian nation, which has not signed the U.N. Convention on Refugees and has been criticized for their harsh treatment.

The aim is to deter asylum seekers from coming to Australia by boat.

A motion condemning the policy was passed by the House of Representatives with the support of two key lawmakers whose support Gillard's Labor Party relies on to stay in power. The Senate passed the same motion in May.

The Greens party lawmaker Adam Bandt, who proposed the motion Thursday, said it is the first time in the 110-year history of Australia's federal parliament that both chambers have condemned a government policy. That claim could not be immediately verified Thursday.

But while embarrassing for the government, the motion does not force the government to change it plans.

Gillard's government commands a single-seat majority in the House of Representatives with the support of Bandt and three independent lawmakers. But her fragile government does not need to pass laws to implement the deal with Malaysia so does not need the parliament's endorsement of the plan.

Gillard said the policy was necessary to stop an increasing number of asylum seekers from paying people smugglers to bring them by boat from transit points in Malaysia and Indonesia.

"I intend pursuing the discussions of the Malaysia agreement to finality and then I intend to implement it because I intend to break the business model of the people smugglers," she told Parliament.

The plan, first announced last month, has been criticized by rights advocates including the U.N. human rights commissioner.

The government has promised that the deal will have the endorsement of the U.N. refugee agency UNHRC.

Australia has sent a delegation to Geneva to discuss details of the plan with UNHCR officials.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen played down media suggestions that the visit could indicate that UNHCR support for the deal is collapsing.

"It's singularly unsurprising that there might be a meeting in Geneva as well as a meeting in Kuala Lumpur and elsewhere as we sort out finer details," Bowen told Sky News television on Thursday.

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Aussie parliament condemns Malaysian refugee deal (AP)

CANBERRA, Australia – Prime Minister Julia Gillard said her government will forge ahead with a proposed referee swap deal with Malaysia despite the Australian parliament condemning the policy in a rare show of defiance Thursday.

Australia wants to send 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia in return for Australia resettling 4,000 registered refugees from among the 93,000 languishing in that Southeast Asian nation, which has not signed the U.N. Convention on Refugees and has been criticized for their harsh treatment.

The aim is to deter asylum seekers from coming to Australia by boat.

A motion condemning the policy was passed by the House of Representatives with the support of two key lawmakers whose support Gillard's Labor Party relies on to stay in power. The Senate passed the same motion in May.

The Greens party lawmaker Adam Bandt, who proposed the motion Thursday, said it is the first time in the 110-year history of Australia's federal parliament that both chambers have condemned a government policy. That claim could not be immediately verified Thursday.

But while embarrassing for the government, the motion does not force the government to change it plans.

Gillard's government commands a single-seat majority in the House of Representatives with the support of Bandt and three independent lawmakers. But her fragile government does not need to pass laws to implement the deal with Malaysia so does not need the parliament's endorsement of the plan.

Gillard said the policy was necessary to stop an increasing number of asylum seekers from paying people smugglers to bring them by boat from transit points in Malaysia and Indonesia.

"I intend pursuing the discussions of the Malaysia agreement to finality and then I intend to implement it because I intend to break the business model of the people smugglers," she told Parliament.

The plan, first announced last month, has been criticized by rights advocates including the U.N. human rights commissioner.

The government has promised that the deal will have the endorsement of the U.N. refugee agency UNHRC.

Australia has sent a delegation to Geneva to discuss details of the plan with UNHCR officials.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen played down media suggestions that the visit could indicate that UNHCR support for the deal is collapsing.

"It's singularly unsurprising that there might be a meeting in Geneva as well as a meeting in Kuala Lumpur and elsewhere as we sort out finer details," Bowen told Sky News television on Thursday.

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Refugee Resort: As Civil War Rages in Libya, Thousands Flock to Tunisia's Djerba Island (Time.com)

By DOMENICO QUIRICO / LA STAMPA / WORLDCRUNCH Domenico Quirico / La Stampa / Worldcrunch – 1 hr 37 mins ago

This post is in partnership with Worldcrunch, a new global-news site that translates stories of note in foreign languages into English. The article below was originally published in La Stampa.

The Tunisian island of Djerba has for all intents and purposes become a Libyan colony. Since the beginning of the civil war, almost 50,000 Libyans have escaped to Tunisia, and 5,000 of them have flocked to Djerba, a popular tourist destination before the wave of revolts began sweeping through North Africa.

There, the rifts of the civil war are evident. On the island, Muammar Gaddafi's supporters and rebels live dangerously side by side. Spies of the regime pretend to be refugees, while revolutionaries dress up as businessmen. It is a melting pot of rumors, provocations, deep misery and outrageous luxury. The enemies have something in common, though. They are all stuck, waiting to know what will happen to Gaddafi. They all watch al-Jazeera, looking for clues about when and if he will fall. (What happens if Gaddafi goes?)

The "five-star refugees" rule Djerba's cafEs and nightclubs, which they treat as their own. Djerba is a sort of Florida for rich Libyans. Until three months ago, they used to go there every weekend. Many Libyan men used to find their dolce vita in Djerba's luxury hotels, restaurants, casinos and nightclubs. The hypocritical Gaddafi regime frowned upon overtly public nightlife.

Now the rich Libyans are back on Djerba. They sit lazily at the bars. They block the streets with their white luxury cars. Even the airport's parking lot is full of the cars of businessmen who are away in the Middle East and Europe. "Top oil men and traffickers who were close to the regime have fled Libya with their money. They have found a safe place for their families, and now they are regaining control of their businesses," says Farhat Tanfous, the mayor of Midoun, a town on the island.

It is both a blessing and a curse for Djerba. Due to the war, bookings by Europeans have dropped by half. The millionaire refugees have picked up the slack, occupying the island's luxury hotels and villas. The beautiful houses hidden between the olive trees are sold out.

Many of them are open supporters of Gaddafi. Two large men sitting at the restaurant El Maluf and staring at the girls on the street are among them. "Why are we here? Because NATO is killing people in Tripoli. That's why! Libya was a paradise before the arrival of these murderers from Cyrenaica who dope themselves before the fight. Watch Libyan television to see the truth! Even in Benghazi the majority of people support Gaddafi, but they cannot protest," they say. The men refuse to identify themselves other than to say they are oil engineers. (See pictures of the perilous voyage of Libyan refugees.)

Among Djerba's Libyans, there are many agents of the political police, Kataeb al Amn. They disguise themselves as refugees in order to monitor the rebels on the island. They spread rumors that Libyan women are forced to prostitute themselves to feed their children. They try to split Libyans and Tunisians. They swear that Gaddafi will forgive everyone. They smile and they threaten. Fear is spreading among the poor refugees who are afraid to be captured by Gaddafi and his police.

Some of Djerba's refugees just sit in the middle. They wait in front of the television to see who will win. They're eager to know when they will be able to get back to business and take advantage of their tribal relations, which will be even more useful in the future than under Gaddafi's regime.

Finally, there are the other refugees, the poor ones, still bewildered and shocked by the bombings. Many of them haven't made it to Djerba. Instead they are stuck in Tunisian villages close to the border with Libya. Only Tunisian generosity is saving them. Tunisians have opened their houses and stadiums to the Libyan refugees. They are even organizing classes for the children. (See "Death, Prison or Exile: Gaddafi Is Out of Options.")

In the end, that is what's keeping these refugees going: Tunisian solidarity and compassion. "With all our oil, we would have never been able to do all this," said Ala, a Libyan refugee. These words express the final damnation of a 40-year regime.

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See a video of Somali refugees from Libya putting on a show in Tunisia.

Read about Gaddafi's nepotism in the "Top 10 Abuses of Power."

View this article on Time.com

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Syrian town shelled amid refugee flight

Casualties were reported along the borderLebanon is going to assess the needs of the refugeesOver a two-month period, as many as 850 people died

(CNN) -- The two-month-long tumult across Syria echoed along the Lebanese border on Saturday as the regime's troops shelled a town and hundreds of refugees hustled to safety into Lebanon.

Syrian soldiers on Saturday shelled Tal Kalakh, a town near the Lebanese border, witnesses told CNN.

Injured Syrians were taken to Lebanese hospitals. One man died and his body was returned to Syria in a funeral procession, residents said.

At least four people were being treated in hospitals. One of the injured, a Syrian man in his 20s, was shot and severely wounded, Ayman Abdel Kader, emergency room doctor in Akkar-Rahal hospital in northern Lebanon told CNN.

Interrupted gunfire could be heard into the evening from the Lebanese northern border village of Wadi Khalid across the Syrian border villages.

Ambulances for the Red Cross stood by to transfer the injured to Lebanese hospitals.

About 700 people from Syria fled to the northern Lebanese village of Mkaybleh, the mayor of the village said Saturday. Those fleeing were mostly women and children, said Mahamoud Khazaal, the mayor.

Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said at present, the refugee flow into Lebanon has been "very small" -- about 1,000 people.

She told CNN Saturday that the Syrian refugees are being hosted by people they know in Lebanon, such as friends and relatives.

As such, she said, "there's been no request for humanitarian assistance," but there are contingency plans if needed.

She said the numbers of Syrians who have crossed the border into Turkey are also small, about 250.

Syria hosts about 300,000 refugees from Iraq, where people fled in droves during the Iraq war.

"But so far we have not seen they are trying to leave Syria," she said.

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has ordered government officials to assess the needs of the Syrians taking refuge in Lebanese villages.

Demonstrations have rippled across the country since mid-March, and protesters demanding political freedoms have been met by a powerful security crackdown.

A U.N. official said on Friday that reports from non-government organizations suggest that somewhere between 700 and 850 people have been killed since the start of the protests" and "thousands of other people have reportedly been arrested."

Violent clashes after demonstrations on Friday left at least four people dead, a human rights advocate said.

According to Ammar Qurabi, chairman of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria, three were killed by gunfire from security forces during those clashes.

The fighting, Qurabi said in a statement, also prevented many people from attending Friday prayers because mosques were surrounded by tanks.

The regime has blamed armed groups for the violence. Minister of Information Adnan Mahmoud said on Friday that 98 soldiers and security forces and 22 police have been killed, according to the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency.

But the demonstrators, emboldened by the tough crackdown and the mass anti-government rallies in other Arab nations this year, have blamed killings on the government.

President Bashar al-Assad has responded to grievances by lifting the country's 48-year-old state of emergency and abolishing the state security court, both of which were key demands of the demonstrators.

The emergency law permitted the government to make preventive arrests and override constitutional and penal code statutes. The security court was a special body that prosecuted people regarded as challenging the government.

But protesters have said more needs to be done.

Quoted by SANA, Mahmoud confirmed that a comprehensive national dialogue will be held in various provinces, and that the government is considering the implementation of political, economic and social reforms.

Life has been slowly returning to normal, including the volatile cities of Banias and Daraa, Mahmoud said.

He said army units "began to gradually depart from Banias and surroundings while the army units deployed in Daraa and surroundings are completing the gradual depart to return to their main camps."

Mahmoud said the United Nations and other humanitarian groups want access in Syria to provide humanitarian aid to people in Daraa, but he argued there was no shortage of food and medicine.

"We have informed the U.N. that there was no need for any assistance to Daraa," the minister said.

The Syrian crackdown has drawn condemnation across the world. A demonstration in support of the protesters is planned on Saturday near the United Nations in New York.

CNN's Rima Maktabi, Nada Husseini and Joe Sterling contributed to this report

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U.S. Gives $126.8 Million to U.N. Refugee Agency Despite Cuts in Foreign Aid

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The United States announced on Friday that it was giving $126.8 million to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) despite making $377 million in cuts to various other U.N. payments as part of the $38 billion reductions for the 2011 budget.

The funding comes from the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration and will support the panel's programs, which helps refugees return to places such as Afghanistan and Sudan, and provide them with basic needs, like water, food, health care and education.

Of that amount, nearly $50 million will go to the Middle East, $40 million to Africa and $23 million to Asia. The U.S. has provided more than $285 million to the agency this year. 

The latest contribution comes on the heels of news that the U.S., the top contributor to the U.N., overpaid its share of the U.N. peacekeeping budget for 2010-2011. The peacekeeping savings, including the overpayments, amount to $286.7 million -- more than three-quarters of the $377 million in U.N. cuts.

But that pales in comparison to the $6.35 billion that the U.S.sent to the U.N. in 2009, according to the latest available data compiled by the Obama administration.

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