Police in Brazil have arrested the vice president of the social media company Facebook in Latin America.
Diego Dzodan, an Argentine national, has repeatedly refused to comply with court orders to hand over data for use in a criminal investigation into drugs trafficking, police said.
His arrest relates to the messaging service WhatsApp, owned by Facebook.
In a statement, Facebook called Mr Dzodan’s arrest an “extreme and disproportionate measure”.
Mr Dzodan’s arrest was ordered by a judge in the north-eastern state of Sergipe.
He was held as he left his house in an exclusive area of Sao Paulo on Tuesday morning.
Judge Marcel Maia Montalvao had in two previous instances issued fines against Facebook for refusing to release WhatsApp data.
The information was needed as part “secrete judicial investigations involving organised crime and drug trafficking,” he said.
In a statement, Facebook said it was “disappointed with the extreme and disproportionate measure”.
“Facebook has always been and will be available to address any questions Brazilian authorities may have,” the company said.
In December a judge in Brazil suspended WhatsApp for 48 hours.
The Sao Paulo state judge said at the time that the company failed to comply with court orders to share information in a criminal case.
Sourced from – http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-35700733
A New Jersey town is attempting to protect illegal immigrants from “really unfortunate” arrests by publishing handouts in English and Spanish that encourage immigrants “to remain silent” and “have a plan!” if confronted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
The response from Princeton officials comes following the targeted arrest of two illegal immigrants in the town early Thursday morning, one of whom had a drunken driving conviction, an ICE official told NJ.com.
Councilwoman Heather Howard has been a leading advocate for working with the local immigrant population to prevent detentions and deportations.
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“These [arrests] are really unfortunate,” she told NJ.com. “They cause fear and panic in the community, and they work to undermine the community’s effort to improve law enforcement relations.”
An ICE spokesperson told FoxNews.com the town’s efforts wouldn’t impede ICE’s duties.
“It’s not gonna hinder our operations,” Alvin Phillips said. “Standard operations are still ongoing and based on priorities.”
He added: “ICE arrests are not unfortunate. In fact to the contrary of previous reports — ICE actions are in keeping with the laws and homeland security priorities: National Security, Public Safety and Border Security. I will also add, arrests in question are afforded an opportunity to meet with legal counsel.”
Several “Know Your Rights” handouts on the town government’s website advise immigrants “if you or someone you love is deportable, have a plan!” Another section of one of the pamphlets tells immigrants to not “answer questions about your immigration status or where you were born. Keep saying you want to call your attorney.”
The publications come complete with cartoons of smiling immigrants flashing cards that say “I want to speak with my lawyer” and shocked immigrants being busted by angry ICE agents, often appearing menacing and wearing dark sunglasses.
The pamphlets even encourage readers not to provide their names to officers: “Remember that providing your name has risks, and that your name can be used to start a deportation process.”
A “Right To Remain Silent Card” is printed near the end of one of the publications with cut-out lines drawn around it for those who wish to detach and carry it.
The card states: “TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: Please be informed that I am choosing to exercise my right to remain silent and the right to refuse to answer your questions. If I am detained, I request to contact an attorney immediately. I am also exercising my right to refuse to sign anything until I consult with my attorney.”
Elisa Neira, the executive director of Human Services, said the goal of the literature is to better inform illegal immigrants of their rights.
Australia’s High Court has ruled that the government’s offshore detention of refugees is legal, sparking an outcry from the UN and human rights groups.
The verdict, announced on Wednesday, paves the way for 267 asylum-seekers currently in Australia to be deported to the Pacific island of Nauru.
The group includes 39 children as well as 33 babies who were born in Australia.
The legal case was brought by a Bangladeshi woman whose lawyers said her imprisonment on Nauru had been “funded, authorised, procured and effectively controlled” by the Australian government, without the constitutional power to do so.
Reacting to the decision, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the court’s decision was “significant”.
The government will keep Australia’s borders secure and stop drownings at sea, he said, continuing the official line that offshore processing acts as a deterrent for asylum-seekers looking to make the dangerous crossing to Australia from Indonesia or beyond.
The [government] has acted decisively to stop the criminal trade, added Turnbull.
PUBLISHED: 01:28 EST, 3 January 2016 | UPDATED: 09:05 EST, 3 January 2016
Down on his luck and with nowhere no turn, 16-year-old John Willis made a phone call that would transform his life.
With his father long gone and his mother dead, he was taking steroids to beef himself up and convince the owner of a club in Boston that he was 18 and therefore old enough to be a bouncer.
After helping a young Asian man called Woping Joe out of a fight at the club, he was handed a card with a phone number and told to ring it if he ever needed help.
Days later, with just 76 cents to his name and nowhere to sleep, he found himself dialing the number for a lift. Just minutes afterwards he was picked up by two BMWs car packed with young, Chinese men.
At the time he was just looking for a warm meal and a roof over his head, but a decade later he would be the Chinese mafia’s number two, known as Bac Guai John – or White Devil.
A legal standoff will not stop the ongoing resettlement
Three Syrian refugee families—including a dozen children between the ages of two and 15—will arrive in Dallas and Houston this week, despite Texas’s on-going lawsuit challenging the federal government’s process in resettling Syrian refugees in the state.
The Obama administration said in a court filing on Friday that a family of six Syrian refugees, who were originally scheduled to arrive in Dallas on Dec. 4 , will now arrive Monday, after spending the weekend in New York. A second family of six is also expected to arrive in Houston Monday. A third, eight-member family, as well as a 26-year-old woman whose mother has already been placed in the area, are expected in arrive in Houston on Thursday.
Last week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, with the backing of Governor Greg Abbott, filed a lawsuit requesting an immediate order blocking the arrival of all new Syrian refugeesin the state, in light of “reasonable concerns about the safety and security of the citizenry of the state of Texas.”
Two days later, on Dec. 4, Paxton’s office said it would no longer seek an immediate order blocking the arrival of the refugees, but said it would continue with the lawsuit pressing federal authorities to provide more information on those already slated for resettlement in Texas. Paxton rolled back his initial demand after federal authorities provided state officials with demographic information about the Syrian families arriving today, according to his office.
The shift, however, which came just hours before a federal judge was expected to rule on the case, did not sit well with some Texas conservatives. Abbott’s office remained quiet about the decision, which one Texas official told TIME was “not the governor’s first choice.” Abbott has since said publicly that he opposes accepting any more Syrian refugees on the grounds that the background check process is “inadequate.”
Katherine Wise, a spokeswoman for Paxton, told TIME that the attorney general’s office will continue to pursue a lawsuit against both the federal government and the International Rescue Committee, a non-profit that works to resettle refugees, to determine whether federal authorities are complying with the requirements under the 1980 Refugee Act. The state argues that the law requires federal authorities to regularly consult with, and provide information to, state and local officials in advance of resettling refugees in those localities.
