Syrian refugees

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Traveling 12-Foot Puppet Aims to Stir Empathy in US

'Little Amal,' puppet of Syrian refugee, will trek from Boston to San Diego to raise migration awareness

(Newser) - Little Amal, a 12-foot puppet of a Syrian refugee, will journey across the United States this fall, visiting key places in America's history to raise awareness about immigration and migration. The puppet of the 10-year-old girl will visit the US Capitol, Boston Common, Joshua Tree National Park, and the...

Man Stuck in Airport for 7 Months Gets His 'Perfect Ending'

Syrian refugee Hassan Al Kontar granted Canadian citizenship, meaning a family reunion is imminent

(Newser) - Hassan Al Kontar has felt like a Canadian since the moment he arrived in British Columbia in 2018, after seven months spent in limbo in a Malaysian airport. But now it's official. The Syrian refugee who was previously granted asylum and permanent residency in Canada received his Canadian citizenship...

They Found Safety in Denmark. Now They're Told to Go
They Found Safety in Denmark.
Now They're Told to Go
THE RUNDOWN

They Found Safety in Denmark. Now They're Told to Go

Denmark becomes first EU country to revoke Syrians' residence permits

(Newser) - "I'm not a danger. I'm not a criminal." You might be inclined to agree. What Ghalia al-Asseh is is a chemistry and biotechnology student at the Technical University of Denmark, the country in which she has lived since fleeing Syria with her family in 2015. Now,...

3 Men Caught, Sentenced Over Infamous Drowning

Turkey sentences them to 125 years each

(Newser) - Turkey has thrown three human traffickers behind bars in the case of a Syrian toddler whose death made headlines around the world, CNN reports. The three organizers, caught by Turkish law enforcement after fleeing the trial, were each sentenced Friday to 125 years in prison. Their crime: "killing with...

Man Who Fled Syria Killed Delivering Pizza in Baltimore

Khaled Heeba was on last delivery of the night

(Newser) - A family friend of a pizza delivery driver who was recently gunned down in Baltimore says he had fled war-torn Syria to seek a better life. The killing of Khaled Heeba remains unsolved nearly two weeks after he died, the Baltimore Sun reports. His death is one of more than...

A Refugee Mother's Anguish After Fire: 'All 7 Are Dead?'

Ibrahim and Kawthar Barho lost all of their children in house fire; Ibrahim Barho is clinging to life

(Newser) - Friends say a family in Canada was set to move next week from the home they rented and head back to the district in Nova Scotia where they'd first landed as refugees from war-torn Raqqa, Syria, in 2017. Now the family of nine has been tragically reduced to two...

Refugee Finds New Home After 7 Months in Airport

Hassan Al Kontar arrived in Vancouver, Canada, on Monday

(Newser) - For seven months, Hassan Al Kontar documented his life inside Kuala Lumpur International Airport, where the Syrian refugee was held in limbo after arriving on March 7. Finally, Al Kontar and his 20,000 Twitter followers will get a change of scenery. "For today, I am in Taiwan International...

Man Stuck in Airport Since March Is Arrested

Hassan Al Kontar of Syria was trying for seven months to find a country to issue him a visa

(Newser) - A Syrian man who found himself stuck in an airport for months after overstaying his Malaysian visa and subsequently refusing to return to his war-torn home country has been arrested. Per CBC , Hassan Al Kontar spent the last seven months living in the Kuala Lumpur airport and documenting on Twitter...

Trump Warns Syria, Iran, Russia Against 'Grave Mistake'

He says 'reckless attack' on Idlib would trigger crisis

(Newser) - President Trump sent a tweet Monday warning Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies against a "reckless attack" on Idlib province. "The Russians and Iranians would be making a grave humanitarian mistake to take part in this potential human tragedy. Hundreds of thousands of people could be killed....

Authorities Ignored Pleas for Help for Hours, 268 Drowned

Leaked audio tapes reveal debate about jurisdiction while Syrian refugees sink

(Newser) - Audio tapes leaked Monday reveal authorities had a chance to save the 268 Syrian refugees—including 60 children—who drowned when their boat capsized in October 2013 but instead wasted time with, as the Times of Malta puts it, "bureaucratic wrangling and indifference." Mohammed Jammo, a Syrian doctor...

Safe in Canada, Refugees Pay Justin Trudeau a Sweet Thanks

Afraa and Muhammad Bilan 'love' Canadian PM for their new life, name son after him

(Newser) - At last count, more than 40,000 Syrian refugees had made Canada their new home since November 2015. Now the Toronto Star reports that two of their number have thanked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for his efforts with the ultimate compliment: They named their baby after him. Justin Trudeau Adam...

Her Water Broke En Route to New Life. She Told Nobody

Syrian mom holds off until family's safe arrival in Canada

(Newser) - Ibtesam Alkarnake's water broke while traveling from a refugee camp in Jordan to her new home in Canada. But the Syrian refugee told no one, not even her husband and four children, reports the Edmonton Journal . It was "brute determination on the mom's part to have the...

Kal Penn Turns Racist Tweet Into Massive Fundraiser

More than $500K as of early Monday

(Newser) - Kal Penn has just turned lemons into lemonade—some pretty darn valuable lemonade. On Saturday the actor tweeted what looked to be an Instagram comment that read in part "you don't belong in this country you f---ing joke." Penn wrote, "To the dude who said I...

Trump's Executive Order Bans All Syrian Refugees Indefinitely

It calls them 'detrimental to the interests of the United States'

(Newser) - Details about President Trump's executive order on refugees and immigration are starting to be revealed. USA Today reports the order completely shuts down the US refugee program for 120 days while it's reviewed by the State Department. There is a 90-day ban on entry to the US from...

A Moving Selfie Turned Into 'Fake News' on Facebook: Suit

Anas Modamani says social network isn't doing enough to stop slander using his image

(Newser) - The concept of "fake news" has infused itself into the regular news cycle, and now a well-known Syrian refugee says he's embroiled in it—and he's suing Facebook as a result, the Guardian reports. Anas Modamani made headlines in September 2015 when he took a selfie with...

With $1.5M, the 'Schindler' of Canada Has Saved 200

Jim Estill has given Syrian refugees new life in Canada

(Newser) - The quote near the top of the story is this: "I didn't want to be 80 years old and know that I did nothing during the greatest humanitarian crisis of my time." It's from Jim Estill, CEO of the Danby appliance company in Guelph, Ontario, and...

Kansas Woman's Topical Christmas Card Goes Viral

She invokes plight of Syrian refugees

(Newser) - Whitney Roberts Logan hasn't felt quite as "merry" this season as she did when she wrote that one word on her Christmas card last year. With the number of Syrians killed in that nation's civil war estimated at near half a million, as PBS reported earlier this...

Trump Promises Syria 'Safe Zones'
Trump Promises
Syria 'Safe Zones'

Trump Promises Syria 'Safe Zones'

Situation 'so sad,' he tells crowd at victory rally

(Newser) - Donald Trump's "Thank You" tour rolled into Hershey, Pa., Thursday night, where he promised to do something to end suffering in Syria. "When I look at what's going on in Syria, it's so sad," he said, per the New York Times . "It's...

Novel Way to Deliver Aid to Sick Refugees on Jordan Border

Cranes may soon be delivering food, supplies to desperate camp residents

(Newser) - Since mid-2014, about 75,000 Syrian refugees have been in limbo in the "berm"—what the Guardian describes as the "no-man's land" at the border between Jordan and Syria. And since June of this year, those refugees have been living in what Doctors Without Borders has...

In Simple Act, New Syrian Refugee Saves Bride's Big Day

Master tailor Ibrahim Haltl Dudu got to work right away on stubborn zipper

(Newser) - Toronto's Jo Du was stepping into her dress on her wedding day when a small disaster struck—the zipper broke. Bridesmaids fussed over it without any success and so ventured next door to look for tools that might help. It turns out that the neighbors were hosting a refugee...

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