An NGO published a confidential document hinting at the disturbing possibility that Chinese State Security agents directly interfere in asylum cases. by Rosita Šorytė
On December 9, 2020, the Spanish NGO Safeguard Defenders published the confidential text of an agreement between Switzerland and China dated December 8, 2015. That the agreement existed was known from an article published on NZZ am Sonntagon August 23, 2020, which led to considerable political controversy, but Safeguard Defenders has published the text for the first time. Its authenticity has not been disputed.
The deal is part of a broader category of so-called "readmission agreements," which are commons between democratic countries. They provide for reciprocal cooperation between the immigration authorities of two countries, when an unauthorized immigrant coming from one of them is identified in the other. Once his or her identity and nationality have been ascertained, the two countries cooperate to take the immigrant back home.
Six places of worship have been attacked in one month. Local officials and police denounce a sustained campaign of hate crime.
by Massimo Introvigne
During the last month, six Buddhist temples have been attacked and vandalized in Orange County, California—three in Garden Grove, two in Santa Ana, and one in Westminster. The Vietnamese Huong Tich Temple, in Santa Ana, suffered the most damage. 15 statues of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas were defaced with black spray paint. One had the word "Jesus" painted on the back. The temple evaluates the damages at least at $ 6,000.
There had been similar attacks in the area in 2018, and in Montreal, Quebec, in February and March this year. California police in fact first suspected a woman involved in the 2018 attacks, but she was kept under surveillance and was not responsible for the most recent incidents.
