Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Polish lawmakers OK anti-migrant wall on Belarus border
WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s lawmakers on Friday approved the speedy construction of a $402 million barrier on the European Union member’s border with Belarus, seeking to stop the increasing flow of migrants.
Now the plan proposed by the right-wing government only needs the approval from President Andrzej Duda, a government ally. Construction of the wall with motion sensors is to start upon the approval.
Poland and other EU nations are accusing the Belarusian regime of President Alexander Lukashenko of encouraging and aiding migrants from the Mideast and Africa to seek entry into the EU through their borders with Belarus. It says the government in Minsk is seeking to destabilize the whole bloc in retaliation for Western sanctions.
Some migrants, chiefly from Iraq and Syria, have died from exhaustion near Poland’s border with Belarus, which runs over 250 miles through forest, bogs and along the Bug River.
Poland has built a razorwire fence on the border and sent thousands of border guards, troops and police, but the measures have failed to stop the inflow of migrants. The border guards have also been pushing migrants back across the border, including some families with children, and a new Polish law makes that legal.
Poland is also in talks with the European Union’s border agency Frontex regarding plans to fly the migrants back to their home countries.
Migrants who get into any EU country can ask for international protection, or asylum that will cover all of the EU, but in most cases the requests are denied.
Queen Elizabeth II health:
Queen Elizabeth II has been advised to rest for at least the next two weeks, accepting doctors’ recommendations to take on only light duties and not travel, Buckingham Palace said Friday.
The decision comes days after the 95-year-old sovereign underwent medical tests and spent the night at London’s King Edward VII’s Hospital, her first such stay in eight years. Elizabeth has continued to work since then and will press on with desk-based duties, but will skip the Nov. 13 Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall in London, an event meant to honor the British and Commonwealth men and women who have fought wars, disasters and pandemics to protect and defend the nation.
“However, it remains the queen’s firm intention to be present for the National Service of Remembrance on Remembrance Sunday, on 14th November,’’ the palace said.
Cuomo criminal complaint:
A New York sheriff on Friday defended his decision to file a criminal complaint against former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo without consulting prosecutors or the accuser, a woman who says the Democrat groped her late last year.
But Sheriff Craig Apple said he was confident in the strength of the case, which he said was based on witness interviews and voluminous records.
“I feel very confident that the district attorney is going to prosecute this,” he told reporters at a news conference in Albany, the state capital. The sheriff said he spoke with the district attorney after Thursday’s filing, but declined to share what was said.
When asked if the governor would be arrested, Apple simply responded, “Yes.”
The one-page complaint filed in Albany City Court accuses Cuomo of forcible touching by putting his hand under a woman’s shirt on Dec. 7.
The complaint did not name the woman, but she has identified herself as Brittany Commisso, who worked as one of Cuomo’s executive assistants before he resigned amid sexual harassment allegations in August.
Lawyer’s money: A South Carolina lawyer involved in a half-dozen state police investigations has been cagey about his assets and should have to hand over control of his money to independent representatives so that he does not engage in further fraud, an attorney told a judge Friday.
Attorneys in three different civil cases have said they fear Alex Murdaugh is trying to hide millions of dollars they could possibly collect in their lawsuits. Murdaugh’s lawyer said he hasn’t been found responsible in any of the civil suits and has insurance to cover if he is required to pay damages.
Circuit Judge Daniel Hall said he would rule sometime around the middle of next week.
Alex Murdaugh remains in the Richland County jail without bond.
The lawyers said Alex Murdaugh could be hiding inheritance from the deaths of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, in an unsolved shooting at the family’s home in June or from his father’s death from natural causes a few days later.
Sudan leader: The Sudanese general who seized power in a coup this week said the military he heads will appoint a technocrat prime minister to rule alongside it within days.
In an interview with Russia’s state-owned Sputnik news agency published Friday, Abdel-Fattah Burhan said the new premier will form a cabinet that will share leadership of the country with the armed forces.
“We have a patriotic duty to lead the people and help them in the transition period until elections are held,” Burhan said in the interview. He said that as long as expected protests are peaceful, “security forces will not intervene.”
The generals have not yet produced a list of candidates for the premiership, Burhan said.
The decision to appoint a premier is in line with earlier promises by the generals that they would install a new nonpartisan technocrat cabinet. It remains unclear what degree of power the new government will have.
Myanmar military torture: The U.S. State Department expressed outrage and demanded an investigation on Friday after The Associated Press reported that Myanmar’s military has been torturing detainees in a systemic way across the country.
The United Nations’ top expert on human rights in Myanmar also called for strong international pressure on the military. And lawmakers in Washington urged Congress to act in the wake of AP’s investigation, which was based on interviews with 28 people, including women and children, imprisoned and released since the military took control of the government in February.
“We are outraged and disturbed by ongoing reports of the Burmese military regime’s use of ‘systematic torture’ across the country,” the State Department said, using Myanmar’s other name, Burma. “Reports of torture in Burma must be credibly investigated and those responsible for such abuses must be held accountable.”
Security forces have killed more than 1,200 people since February, including at least 131 detainees tortured to death.