Germany to Introduce ‘Payment Cards’ for Migrants
Asylum seekers in Germany will cease receiving cash payments during the course of this year, and will be issued special debit cards instead, the governor of Hesse, Boris Rhein, has announced. The cards will reportedly have limited functionality, with features like free cash withdrawal and transfers to recipients inside and outside of Germany disabled.
A number of municipalities across the country have introduced the new payment method ahead of nation-wide implementation. These include several communities in Baden-Wuerttemberg and Thuringia. Bild reported last month that at least 15 asylum seekers left their localities after Thuringian authorities imposed the new protocols.
Speaking on Wednesday, Rhein revealed that 14 out of 16 German states had agreed on uniform standards for such cards, with Bavaria and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern seeking other schemes. They will, however, introduce the new payment method as well, which is expected to be finalized by this summer.
According to Rhein, “with the introduction of the payment card we reduce the administrative burden on local municipalities [and] prevent the possibility of transferring money from state subsidies to countries of origin, and thus combat the inhuman human-trafficking crime.”
The pre-paid card will not be linked to an account, and will not feature card-to-card transfers within Germany or to recipients abroad. It will also not function in any country other than Germany, should an asylum seeker travel elsewhere. Local governments will also have the option of limiting the card’s functionality solely to a single region.
Asylum seekers will apparently be able to withdraw small amounts of cash using the cards, with the monthly ceiling to be determined by local authorities.
While German Finance Minister Christian Lindner hailed the scheme as a “milestone,” critics from the left have denounced the measure as “cheap populism” and “discrimination.”
More than 350,000 people applied for asylum in Germany in 2023, the highest number since 2016 and a 51% rise compared with the previous year, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) reported in early January.
Last month, Germany’s parliament passed legislation that facilitates the deportation of failed asylum seekers. Among other things, the new rules considerably extend the custody period pending deportation in a bid to prevent situations where failed applicants simply abscond around the time they are supposed to be sent home.
Moreover, police were granted additional power to search migrant accommodations and access their cell phones to facilitate identification of asylum seekers.
F-35 Jet Fails to Meet Basic Operating Standards in 65 Areas – Pentagon Report
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter still suffers at least 65 basic deficiencies where it continues to fail to meet basic testing specifications, the Office of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) said in a report.
The JPO [F-35 Joint Project Office] completed the readiness review for JSE [joint simulation environment] trials in September 2023, and certified it as ready for testing, despite 65 deficiencies against the baseline JSE requirements, the report said on Friday.
The F-35 program development cycle continues to experience delays due to immature and deficient Block 4 mission systems software and avionics stability problems with the new Technology Refresh 3 (TR-3) hardware going into Lot 15 production aircraft, the report said.
“As a result, deliveries of production Lot 15 aircraft in the TR-3 configuration are on hold until more testing can be completed and the avionics issues resolved. …[T]hese delays prevented the F-35 JPO from adequately planning and programming for hardware modifications … of the upgraded hardware configuration,” the report said.
Also, the necessary flight test instrumentation, including both aircraft and open-air battle shaping instrumentation, for both, the remaining TR-2 configuration and upgraded TR-3 aircraft, are not all on contract and will not be available in time, the report added.
Biden Promises More US Airstrikes
President Joe Biden has defended the US response to a recent drone strike that left three American soldiers dead, claiming that the air raids have targeted militia groups in Iraq and Syria allegedly backed by Iran.
In a statement issued on Friday, Biden said he personally ordered the Pentagon’s response to last weekend’s deadly drone strike on a Jordanian military base housing US troops.
“This afternoon, at my direction, US military forces struck targets at facilities in Iraq and Syria that the IRGC and affiliated militia use to attack US forces,” the president said, referring to Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite military unit.
“Our response began today,” Biden stated, adding that retaliatory strikes would continue “at times and places of our choosing.”
US defense chief Lloyd Austin also warned that the latest round of strikes is just “the start of our response,” adding that “the president has directed additional actions.”
US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees operations in the Middle East and Central Asia, previously announced that it had carried out air raids on more than 85 targets across both Iraq and Syria, also citing last Sunday’s drone strike in Jordan.
The operation involved “numerous aircraft,” including long-range bombers flown from the US, which dropped over 125 precision munitions on their targets, the command added. Those targets were said to include command and control centers, intelligence sites, weapons caches, and supply-chain facilities of Iranian-backed militias.
US Judge Dismisses Disney Lawsuit Against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
A federal court has thrown out Disney’s lawsuit against Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The lawsuit had claimed that the DeSantis administration had violated the company’s First Amendment rights by removing Disney World’s special district […]
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Judge Aquits Climate Activist Greta Thunberg Over Oil Protest
A judge has acquitted climate activist Greta Thunberg of a charge that she refused to follow a police order to leave a protest blocking the entrance to a major oil and gas industry conference in […]
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Slams US Airstrikes On Syria & Iraq
The US should withdraw its ground troops from Middle Eastern countries that do not welcome them, according to US president candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. On Friday Washington launched a new bombing campaign against Iranian-backed […]
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